Miss  Forbes 


The  Scarlet  Car 


The  Princess  Aline 


BY 


RICHARD   HARDING   DAVIS 


,..!•  STRAIT- 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK:::::::::::::::::::::::::i9io 


THE  SCARLET  CAR 

COPYRIGHT,  1906,  BY 
RICHARD  HARDING  DAVIS 

COPYRIGHT,  1907,  1910,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


THE  PRINCESS  ALINE 

COPYRIGHT,  1895,  BY 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS 


^  COPYRIGHT,  1910,  BY 
CHARLES  " 


THE  SCARLET  CAR 


THE  PRINCESS  ALINE 


CONTENTS 

THE   SCARLET   CAR 

PAGE 

THE  JAIL-BREAKERS i 

THE  TRESPASSERS  . 39 

THE  KIDNAPPERS 70 

THE  PRINCESS  ALINE 


226715 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Miss  Forbes     .    .    . Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

In  the  two  circles  of  light  the  men  surveyed  each  other  56 

"You've  broken  the  bone,"  he  said 66 

"Next  to  her  stood  the  Princess  Aline  of  Hohenwald"  142 

"A  man  was  talking  in  English,  with  an  accent"   .     .  152 

"This  is  she.    Do  you  wonder  I  travelled  four  thou- 
sand miles  to  see  her?" 164 


THE  SCARLET  CAR 


TO 
NED    STONE 


THE  SCARLET  CAR 

i 

THE  JAIL-BREAKERS 

PR  a  long  time  it  had  been  arranged  they 
all  should  go  to  the  Harvard  and  Yale 
game  in  Winthrop' s  car.  It  was  perfectly  well 
understood.  Even  Peabody,  who  pictured  him- 
self and  Miss  Forbes  in  the  back  of  the  car,  with 
her  brother  and  Winthrop  in  front,  condescended 
to  approve.  It  was  necessary  to  invite  Peabody 
because  it  was  his  great  good  fortune  to  be  en- 
gaged to  Miss  Forbes.  Her  brother  Sam  had 
been  invited,  not  only  because  he  could  act  as 
chaperon  for  his  sister,  but  because  since  they 
were  at  St.  Paul's,  Winthrop  and  he,  either  as  par- 
ticipants or  spectators,  had  never  missed  going 
together  to  the  Yale-Harvard  game.  And  Bea- 
trice Forbes  herself  had  been  invited  because 
she  was  herself. 

When  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
game,  Winthrop  stopped  the  car  in  front  of  her 

3 


l>t  Car 

door,  he  was  in  love  with  all  the  world.  In  the 
November  air  there  was  a  sting  like  frost-bitten 
cider,  in  the  sky  there  was  a  brilliant,  beautiful 
sun,  in  the  wind  was  the  tingling  touch  of  three 
ice-chilled  rivers.  And  in  the  big  house  facing 
Central  Park,  outside  of  which  his  prancing  steed 
of  brass  and  scarlet  chugged  and  protested  and 
trembled  with  impatience,  was  the  most  wonder- 
ful girl  in  all  the  world.  It  was  true  she  was  en- 
gaged to  be  married,  and  not  to  him.  But  she 
was  not  yet  married.  And  to-day  it  would  be  his 
privilege  to  carry  her  through  the  State  of  New 
York  and  the  State  of  Connecticut,  and  he  would 
snatch  glimpses  of  her  profile  rising  from  the 
rough  fur  collar,  of  her  wind-blown  hair,  of  the 
long,  lovely  lashes  under  the  gray  veil. 

'Shall  be  together,  breathe  and  ride,  so,  one 
day  more  am  I  deified;  '  '  whispered  the  young 
man  in  the  Scarlet  Car;  'who  knows  but  the 
world  may  end  to-night  ? ' 

As  he  waited  at  the  curb,  other  great  touring- 
cars,  of  every  speed  and  shape,  in  the  mad  race 
for  the  Boston  Post  Road,  and  the  town  of  New 
Haven,  swept  up  Fifth  Avenue.  Some  rolled 
and  puffed  like  tugboats  in  a  heavy  seaway,  others 
glided  by  noiseless  and  proud  as  private  yachts. 
But  each  flew  the  colors  of  blue  or  crimson. 


The  Scarlet  Car 

Winthrop' s  car,  because  her  brother  had  gone 
to  one  college,  and  he  had  played  right  end  for 
the  other,  was  draped  impartially.  And  so  every 
other  car  mocked  or  cheered  it,  and  in  one  a  bare- 
headed youth  stood  up,  and  shouted  to  his  fel- 
lows: "Look!  there's  Billy  Winthrop!  Three 
times  three  for  old  Billy  Winthrop!"  And  they 
lashed  the  air  with  flags,  and  sent  his  name 
echoing  over  Central  Park. 

Winthrop  grinned  in  embarrassment,  and  waved 
his  hand.  A  bicycle  cop,  and  Fred,  the  chauffeur, 
were  equally  impressed. 

"Was  they  the  Harvoids,  sir?"    asked  Fred. 

'They  was/'  said  Winthrop. 

Her  brother  Sam  came  down  the  steps  carrying 
sweaters  and  steamer-rugs.  But  he  wore  no  holi- 
day countenance. 

"What  do  you  think?"  he  demanded  indig- 
nantly. "Ernest  Peabody's  inside  making  trouble. 
His  sister  has  a  Pullman  on  one  of  the  special 
trains,  and  he  wants  Beatrice  to  go  with  her." 

In  spite  of  his  furs,  the  young  man  in  the  car 
turned  quite  cold.  "Not  with  us?"  he  gasped. 

Miss  Forbes  appeared  at  the  house  door,  fol- 
lowed by  Ernest  Peabody.  He  wore  an  expres- 
sion of  disturbed  dignity;  she  one  of  distressed 
amusement.  That  she  also  wore  her  automo- 

5 


The  Scarlet  Car 

bile  coat  caused   the   heart  of  Winthrop  to  leap 
hopefully. 

"Winthrop,"  said  Peabody,  "I  am  in  rather  an 
embarrassing  position.  My  sister,  Mrs.  Taylor 
Holbrooke" — he  spoke  the  name  as  though  he 
were  announcing  it  at  the  door  of  a  drawing- 
room — "desires  Miss  Forbes  to  go  with  her.  She 
feels  accidents  are  apt  to  occur  with  motor  cars 
— and  there  are  no  other  ladies  in  your  party — 
and  the  crowds— 

Winthrop  carefully  avoided  looking  at  Miss 
Forbes. 

"I  should  be  very  sorry,"  he  murmured. 

"Ernest!"  said  Miss  Forbes,  "I  explained  it 
was  impossible  for  me  to  go  with  your  sister.  We 
would  be  extremely  rude  to  Mr.  Winthrop.  How 
do  you  wish  us  to  sit?"  she  asked. 

She  mounted  to  the  rear  seat,  and  made  room 
opposite  her  for  Peabody. 

"Do  I  understand,  Beatrice,"  began  Peabody, 
in  a  tone  that  instantly  made  every  one  extremely 
uncomfortable,  "that  I  am  to  tell  my  sister  you 
are  not  coming  ? " 

"Ernest!"    begged  Miss  Forbes. 

Winthrop  bent  hastily  over  the  oil  valves.  He 
read  the  speedometer,  which  was,  as  usual,  out 
of  order,  with  fascinated  interest. 

6 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"Ernest,"  pleaded  Miss  Forbes,  "Mr.  Winthrop 
and  Sam  planned  this  trip  for  us  a  long  time  ago — 
to  give  us  a  little  pleasure " 

"Then,"  said  Peabody  in  a  hollow  voice,  "you 
have  decided  ?" 

"Ernest,"  cried  Miss  Forbes,  "don't  look  at  me 
as  though  you  meant  to  hurl  the  curse  of  Rome. 
I  have.  Jump  in.  Please!" 

"I  will  bid  you  good-by,"  said  Peabody;  "I 
have  only  just  time  to  catch  our  train." 

Miss  Forbes  rose  and  moved  to  the  door  of  the  car. 

"  I  had  better  not  go  with  any  one,"  she  said  in 
a  low  voice. 

"You  will  go  with  me,"  commanded  her  brother. 
"Come  on,  Ernest." 

"Thank  you,  no,"  replied  Peabody.  "I  have 
promised  my  sister." 

"All  right,  then,"  exclaimed  Sam  briskly,  "see 
you  at  the  game.  Section  H.  Don't  forget. 
Let  her  out,  Billy." 

With  a  troubled  countenance  Winthrop  bent 
forward  and  clasped  the  clutch. 

"Better  come,  Peabody,"  he  said. 

"I  thank  you,  no,"  repeated  Peabody.  "I  must 
go  with  my  sister." 

As  the  car  glided  forward  Brother  Sam  sighed 
heavily. 

7 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"My!  but  he's  got  a  mean  disposition,"  he  said. 
"He  has  quite  spoiled  my  day." 

He  chuckled  wickedly,  but  Winthrop  pretended 
not  to  hear,  and  his  sister  maintained  an  expres- 
sion of  utter  dejection. 

But  to  maintain  an  expression  of  utter  dejec- 
tion is  very  difficult  when  the  sun  is  shining,  when 
you  are  flying  at  the  rate  of  forty  miles  an  hour, 
and  when  in  the  cars  you  pass  foolish  youths 
wave  Yale  flags  at  you,  and  take  advantage  of 
the  day  to  cry:  "Three  cheers  for  the  girl  in  the 
blue  hat!" 

And  to  entirely  remove  the  last  trace  of  the 
gloom  that  Peabody  had  forced  upon  them,  it 
was  necessary  only  for  a  tire  to  burst.  Of  course, 
for  this  effort,  the  tire  chose  the  coldest  and  most 
fiercely  wind-swept  portion  of  the  Pelham  Road, 
where  from  the  broad  waters  of  the  Sound  pneu- 
monia and  the  grip  raced  rampant,  and  where  to 
the  touch  a  steel  wrench  was  not  to  be  distin- 
guished from  a  piece  of  ice.  But  before  the 
wheels  had  ceased  to  complain,  Winthrop  and 
Fred  were  out  of  their  fur  coats,  down  on  their 
knees,  and  jacking  up  the  axle. 

"On  an  expedition  of  this  sort,"  said  Brother 
Sam,  "whatever  happens,  take  it  as  a  joke.  Fort- 
unately," he  explained,  "I  don't  understand  fix- 

8 


The  Scarlet  Car 

ing  inner  tubes,  so  I  will  get  out  and  smoke.  I 
have  noticed  that  when  a  car  breaks  down  there 
is  always  one  man  who  paces  up  and  down  the 
road  and  srrfokes.  His  hope  is  to  fool  passing 
cars  into  thinking  that  the  people  in  his  car 
stopped  to  admire  the  view." 

Recognizing  the  annual  foot-ball  match  as  in- 
tended solely  to  replenish  the  town  coffers,  the 
thrifty  townsfolk  of  Rye,  with  bicycles  and  red 
flags,  were,  as  usual,  and  regardless  of  the  speed 
at  which  it  moved,  levying  tribute  on  every  sec- 
ond car  that  entered  their  hospitable  boundaries. 
But  before  the  Scarlet  Car  reached  Rye,  small 
boys  of  the  town,  possessed  of  a  sporting  spirit,  or 
of  an  inherited  instinct  for  graft,  were  waiting  to 
give  a  noisy  notice  of  the  ambush.  And  so,  fore- 
warned, the  Scarlet  Car  crawled  up  the  main 
street  of  Rye  as  demurely  as  a  baby-carriage,  and 
then,  having  safely  reached  a  point  directly  in 
front  of  the  police  station,  with  a  loud  and  osten- 
tatious report,  blew  up  another  tire. 

"Well,"  said  Sam  crossly,  "they  can't  arrest 
us  for  speeding." 

"Whatever  happens,"  said  his  sister,  "take  it 
as  a  joke." 

Two  miles  outside  of  Stamford,  Brother  Sam 
burst  into  open  mutiny. 

9 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"Every  car  in  the  United  States  has  passed 
us,"  he  declared.  "We  won't  get  there,  at  this 
rate,  till  the  end  of  the  first  half.  Hit  her  up, 
can't  you,  Billy?" 

"She  seems  to  have  an  illness,"  said  Winthrop 
unhappily.  "I  think  I'd  save  time  if  I  stopped 
now  and  fixed  her." 

Shamefacedly  Fred  and  he  hid  themselves  un- 
der the  body  of  the  car,  and  a  sound  of  hammer- 
ing and  stentorian  breathing  followed.  Of  them 
all  that  was  visible  was  four  feet  beating  a  tattoo 
on  the  road.  Miss  Forbes  got  out  Winthrop's 
camera,  and  took  a  snapshot  of  the  scene. 

"I  will  call  it,"  she  said,  "The  Idle  Rich." 

Brother  Sam  gazed  morosely  in  the  direction  of 
New  Haven.  They  had  halted  within  fifty  yards 
of  the  railroad  tracks,  and  as  each  special  train, 
loaded  with  happy  enthusiasts,  raced  past  them 
he  groaned. 

"The  only  one  of  us  that  showed  any  common- 
sense  was  Ernest,"  he  declared,  "and  you  turned 
him  down.  I  am  going  to  take  a  trolley  to  Stam- 
ford, and  the  first  train  to  New  Haven." 

"You  are  not,"  said  his  sister;  "I  will  not 
desert  Mr.  Winthrop,  and  you  cannot  desert  me." 

Brother  Sam  sighed,  and  seated  himself  on  a 
rock. 


10 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"Do  you  think,  Billy,"  he  asked,  "you  can  get 
us  to  Cambridge  in  time  for  next  year's  game  ? " 

The  car  limped  into  Stamford,  and  while  it 
went  into  dry-dock  at  the  garage,  Brother  Sam 
fled  to  the  railroad  station,  where  he  learned  that 
for  the  next  two  hours  no  train  that  recognized 
New  Haven  spoke  to  Stamford. 

"That  being  so,"  said  Winthrop,  "while  we 
are  waiting  for  the  car,  we  had  better  get  a  quick 
lunch  now,  and  then  push  on." 

"Push,"  exclaimed  Brother  Sam  darkly,  "is 
what  we  are  likely  to  do." 

After  behaving  with  perfect  propriety  for  half 
an  hour,  just  outside  of  Bridgeport  the  Scarlet 
Car  came  to  a  slow  and  sullen  stop,  and  once 
more  the  owner  and  the  chauffeur  hid  their  shame 
beneath  it,  and  attacked  its  vitals.  Twenty  min- 
utes later,  while  they  still  were  at  work,  there 
approached  from  Bridgeport  a  young  man  in  a 
buggy.  When  he  saw  the  mass  of  college  colors 
on  the  Scarlet  Car,  he  pulled  his  horse  down  to  a 
walk,  and  as  he  passed  raised  his  hat. 

"At  the  end  of  the  first  half,"  he  said,  "the 


score  was  a  tie." 


"Don't  mention  it,"  said  Brother  Sam. 
"Now,"  he  cried,  "we've  got  to  turn  back,  and 
make  for  New  York.     If  we  start  quick,  we  may 


ii 


The  Scarlet  Car 

get  there  ahead  of  the  last  car  to  leave  New 
Haven." 

"I  am  going  to  New  Haven,  and  in  this  car," 
declared  his  sister.  "I  must  go — to  meet  Ernest." 

"If  Ernest  has  as  much  sense  as  he  showed 
this  morning,"  returned  her  affectionate  brother, 
"Ernest  will  go  to  his  Pullman  and  stay  there. 
As  I  told  you,  the  only  sure  way  to  get  anywhere 
is  by  railroad  train." 

When  they  passed  through  Bridgeport  it  was 
so  late  that  the  electric  lights  of  Fairview  Avenue 
were  just  beginning  to  sputter  and  glow  in  the 
twilight,  and  as  they  came  along  the  shore  road 
into  New  Haven,  the  first  car  out  of  New  Haven 
in  the  race  back  to  New  York  leaped  at  them 
with  siren  shrieks  of  warning,  and  dancing,  daz- 
zling eyes.  It  passed  like  a  thing  driven  by  the 
Furies;  and  before  the  Scarlet  Car  could  swing 
back  into  what  had  been  an  empty  road,  in  swift 
pursuit  of  the  first  came  many  more  cars,  with 
blinding  searchlights,  with  a  roar  of  throbbing, 
thrashing  engines,  flying  pebbles,  and  whirling 
wheels,  and  behind  these,  stretching  for  a  twisted 
mile,  came  hundreds  of  others;  until  the  road  was 
aflame  with  flashing  will-o'-the-wisps,  dancing  fire- 
balls, and  long,  shifting  shafts  of  light. 

Miss  Forbes  sat  in  front,  beside  Winthrop,  and 


12 


The  Scarlet  Car 

it  pleased  her  to  imagine,  as  they  bent  forward, 
peering  into  the  night,  that  together  they  were  fac- 
ing so  many  fiery  dragons,  speeding  to  give  them 
battle,  to  grind  them  under  their  wheels.  She 
felt  the  elation  of  great  speed,  of  imminent  danger. 
Her  blood  tingled  with  the  air  from  the  wind- 
swept harbor,  with  the  rush  of  the  great  engines, 
as  by  a  hand-breadth  they  plunged  past  her.  She 
knew  they  were  driven  by  men  and  half-grown 
boys,  joyous  with  victory,  piqued  by  defeat,  reck- 
less by  one  touch  too  much  of  liquor,  and  that  the 
young  man  at  her  side  was  driving,  not  only  for 
himself,  but  for  them. 

Each  fraction  of  a  second  a  dazzling  light 
blinded  him,  and  he  swerved  to  let  the  monster, 
with  a  hoarse,  bellowing  roar,  pass  by,  and  then 
again  swept  his  car  into  the  road.  And  each 
time  for  greater  confidence  she  glanced  up  into 
his  face. 

Throughout  the  mishaps  of  the  day  he  had 
been  deeply  concerned  for  her  comfort,  sorry  for 
her  disappointment,  under  Brother  Sam's  indig- 
nant ironies  patient,  and  at  all  times  gentle  and 
considerate.  Now,  in  the  light  from  the  onrush- 
ing  cars,  she  noted  his  alert,  laughing  eyes,  the 
broad  shoulders  bent  across  the  wheel,  the  lips 
smiling  with  excitement  and  in  the  joy  of  control- 

13 


The  Scarlet  Car 

ling,  with  a  turn  of  the  wrist,  a  power  equal  to 
sixty  galloping  horses.  She  found  in  his  face 
much  comfort.  And  in  the  fact  that  for  the  mo- 
ment her  safety  lay  in  his  hands,  a  sense  of  pleas- 
ure. That  this  was  her  feeling  puzzled  and  dis- 
turbed her,  for  to  Ernest  Peabody  it  seemed,  in 
some  way,  disloyal.  And  yet  there  it  was.  Of  a 
certainty,  there  was  the  secret  pleasure  in  the 
thought  that  if  they  escaped  unhurt  from  the  trap 
in  which  they  found  themselves,  it  would  be  due 
to  him.  To  herself  she  argued  that  if  the  chauf- 
feur were  driving,  her  feeling  would  be  the  same, 
that  it  was  the  nerve,  the  skill,  and  the  coolness, 
not  the  man,  that  moved  her  admiration.  But 
in  her  heart  she  knew  it  would  not  be  the  same. 

At  West  Haven  Green  Winthrop  turned  out  of 
the  track  of  the  racing  monsters  into  a  quiet 
street  leading  to  the  railroad  station,  and  with  a 
half-sigh,  half-laugh,  leaned  back  comfortably. 

"Those  lights  coming  up  suddenly  make  it  hard 
to  see,"  he  said. 

"Hard  to  breathe,"  snorted  Sam;  "since  that 
first  car  missed  us,  I  haven't  drawn  an  honest 
breath.  I  held  on  so  tight  that  I  squeezed  the 
hair  out  of  the  cushions." 

When  they  reached  the  railroad  station,  and 
Sam  had  finally  fought  his  way  to  the  station- 

14 


The  Scarlet  Car 

master,  that  half-crazed  official  informed  him  he 
had  missed  the  departure  of  Mrs.  Taylor  Hol- 
brooke's car  by  just  ten  minutes. 

Brother  Sam  reported  this  state  of  affairs  to 
his  companions. 

"God  knows  we  asked  for  the  fish  first,"  he 
said;  "so  now  we've  done  our  duty  by  Ernest, 
who  has  shamefully  deserted  us,  and  we  can  get 
something  to  eat,  and  go  home  at  our  leisure. 
As  I  have  always  told  you,  the  only  way  to  travel 
independently  is  in  a  touring-car." 

At  the  New  Haven  House  they  bought  three  wait- 
ers, body  and  soul,  and,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  in 
the  very  next  room  the  team  was  breaking  training, 
obtained  an  excellent  but  chaotic  dinner;  and  by 
eight  they  were  on  their  way  back  to  the  big  city. 

The  night  was  grandly  beautiful.  The  waters 
of  the  Sound  flashed  in  the  light  of  a  cold,  clear 
moon,  which  showed  them,  like  pictures  in  silver 
print,  the  sleeping  villages  through  which  they 
passed,  the  ancient  elms,  the  low-roofed  cottages, 
the  town-hall  facing  the  common.  The  post  road 
was  again  empty,  and  the  car  moved  as  steadily 
as  a  watch. 

"Just  because  it  knows  we  don't  care  now 
when  we  get  there,"  said  Brother  Sam,  "you 
couldn't  make  it  break  down  with  an  axe." 

15 


The  Scarlet  Car 

From  the  rear,  where  he  sat  with  Fred,  he 
announced  he  was  going  to  sleep,  and  asked  that 
he  be  not  awakened  until  the  car  had  crossed  the 
State  line  between  Connecticut  and  New  York. 
Winthrop  doubted  if  he  knew  the  State  line  of 
New  York. 

"It  is  where  the  advertisements  for  Besse 
Baker's  twenty-seven  stores  cease,"  said  Sam 
drowsily,  "and  the  bill-posters  of  Ethel  Barrymore 
begin." 

In  the  front  of  the  car  the  two  young  people 
spoke  only  at  intervals,  but  Winthrop  had  never 
been  so  widely  alert,  so  keenly  happy,  never  before 
so  conscious  of  her  presence. 

And  it  seemed  as  they  glided  through  the  mys- 
terious moonlit  world  of  silent  villages,  shadowy 
woods,  and  wind-swept  bays  and  inlets,  from 
which,  as  the  car  rattled  over  the  planks  of  the 
bridges,  the  wild  duck  rose  in  noisy  circles,  they 
alone  were  awake  and  living. 

The  silence  had  lasted  so  long  that  it  was 
as  eloquent  as  words.  The  young  man  turned 
his  eyes  timorously,  and  sought  those  of  the  girl. 
What  he  felt  was  so  strong  in  him  that  it  seemed 
incredible  she  should  be  ignorant  of  it.  His 
eyes  searched  the  gray  veil.  In  his  voice  there 
was  both  challenge  and  pleading. 

16 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"'Shall  be  together,'"  he  quoted,  "'breathe 
and  ride.  So,  one  day  more  am  I  deified;  who 
knows  but  the  world  may  end  to-night  ? ' ' 

The  moonlight  showed  the  girl's  eyes  shining 
through  the  veil,  and  regarding  him  steadily. 

"If  you  don't  stop  this  car  quick,"  she  said, 
"the  world  will  end  for  all  of  us." 

He  shot  a  look  ahead,  and  so  suddenly  threw 
on  the  brake  that  Sam  and  the  chauffeur  tumbled 
awake.  Across  the  road  stretched  the  great  bulk 
of  a  touring-car,  its  lamps  burning  dully  in  the 
brilliance  of  the  moon.  Around  it,  for  greater 
warmth,  a  half-dozen  figures  stamped  upon  the 
frozen  ground,  and  beat  themselves  with  their 
arms.  Sam  and  the  chauffeur  vaulted  into  the 
road,  and  went  toward  them. 

"It's  what  you  say,  and  the  way  you  say  it," 
the  girl  explained.  She  seemed  to  be  continuing 
an  argument.  "It  makes  it  so  very  difficult  for 
us  to  play  together." 

The  young  man  clasped  the  wheel  as  though 
the  force  he  were  holding  in  check  were  much 
greater  than  sixty  horse-power. 

"You  are  not  married  yet,  are  you?"  he  de- 
manded. 

The  girl  moved  her  head. 

"And  when  you  are  married,  there  will  prob- 
17 


The  Scarlet  Car 

ably  be  an  altar  from  which  you  will  turn  to  walk 
back  up  the  aisle  ? " 

"Well?  "said  the  girl. 

"Well,"  he  answered  explosively,  "until  you 
turn  away  from  that  altar,  I  do  not  recognize  the 
right  of  any  man  to  keep  me  quiet,  or  your  right 
either.  Why  should  I  be  held  by  your  engage- 
ment? I  was  not  consulted  about  it.  I  did  not 
give  my  consent,  did  I  ?  I  tell  you,  you  are  the 
only  woman  in  the  world  I  will  ever  marry,  and 
if  you  think  I  am  going  to  keep  silent  and  watch 
some  one  else  carry  you  off  without  making  a 
fight  for  you,  you  don't  know  me." 

"If  you  go  on,"  said  the  girl,  "it  will  mean  that 
I  shall  not  see  you  again." 

"Then  I  will  write  letters  to  you." 

"I  will  not  read  them,"  said  the  girl. 

The  young  man  laughed  defiantly. 

"Oh,  yes,  you  will  read  them!"  He  pounded 
his  gauntleted  fist  on  the  rim  of  the  wheel.  "You 
mayn't  answer  them,  but  if  I  can  write  the  way  I 
feel,  I  will  bet  you'll  read  them." 

His  voice  changed  suddenly,  and  he  began  to 
plead.  It  was  as  though  she  were  some  mascu- 
line giant  bullying  a  small  boy. 

"You  are  not  fair  to  me,"  he  protested.  "I 
do  not  ask  you  to  be  kind,  I  ask  you  to  be  fair. 

18 


The  Scarlet  Car 

I  am  fighting  for  what  means  more  to  me  than 
anything  in  this  world,  and  you  won't  even  listen. 
Why  should  I  recognize  any  other  men  ?  All  I 
recognize  is  that  7  am  the  man  who  loves  you, 
that  'I  am  the  man  at  your  feet/  That  is  all  I 
know,  that  I  love  you." 

The  girl  moved  as  though  with  the  cold,  and 
turned  her  head  from  him. 

"I  love  you,"  repeated  the  young  man. 

The  girl  breathed  like  one  who  has  been  swim- 
ming under  water,  but,  when  she  spoke,  her 
voice  was  calm  and  contained. 

"Please!"  she  begged,  "don't  you  see  how 
unfair  it  is  ?  I  can't  go  away;  I  have  to  listen." 

The  young  man  pulled  himself  upright,  and 
pressed  his  lips  together. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  whispered. 

There  was  for  some  time  an  unhappy  silence, 
and  then  Winthrop  added  bitterly:  "'Methinks  the 
punishment  exceeds  the  offence.' ' 

"Do  you  think  you  make  it  easy  for  me?" 
returned  the  girl. 

She  considered  it  most  ungenerous  of  him  to 
sit  staring  into  the  moonlight,  looking  so  miser- 
able that  it  made  her  heart  ache  to  comfort  him, 
and  so  extremely  handsome  that  to  do  so  was 
quite  impossible.  She  would  have  liked  to  reach 

19 


The  Scarlet  Car 

out  her  hand  and  lay  it  on  his  arm,  and  tell  him 
she  was  sorry,  but  she  could  not.  He  should  not 
have  looked  so  unnecessarily  handsome. 

Sam  came  running  toward  them  with  five  griz- 
zly bears,  who  balanced  themselves  apparently 
with  some  slight  effort  upon  their  hind  legs. 
The  grizzly  bears  were  properly  presented  as: 
'Tommy  Todd,  of  my  class,  and  some  more  like 
him.  And,"  continued  Sam,  "I  am  going  to 
quit  you  two  and  go  with  them.  Tom's  car 
broke  down,  but  Fred  fixed  it,  and  both  our  cars 
can  travel  together.  Sort  of  convoy,"  he  explained. 

His  sister  signalled  eagerly,  but  with  equal 
eagerness  he  retreated  from  her. 

"Believe  me,"  he  assured  her  soothingly,  "I 
am  just  as  good  a  chaperon  fifty  yards  behind 
you,  and  wide  awake,  as  I  am  in  the  same  car  and 
fast  asleep.  And,  besides,  I  want  to  hear  about 
the  game.  And,  what's  more,  two  cars  are  much 
safer  than  one.  Suppose  you  two  break  down  in 
a  lonely  place?  We'll  be  right  behind  you  to 
pick  you  up.  You  will  keep  Winthrop's  car  in 
sight,  won't  you,  Tommy  ? "  he  said. 

The  grizzly  bear  called  Tommy,  who  had  been 
examining  the  Scarlet  Car,  answered  doubtfully 
that  the  only  way  he  could  keep  it  in  sight  was  by 
tying  a  rope  to  it. 

20 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"That's  all  right,  then,"  said  Sam  briskly, 
"Winthrop  will  go  slow." 

So  the  Scarlet  Car  shot  forward  with  sometimes 
the  second  car  so  far  in  the  rear  that  they  could 
only  faintly  distinguish  the  horn  begging  them  to 
wait,  and  again  it  would  follow  so  close  upon  their 
wheels  that  they  heard  the  five  grizzly  bears  chant- 
ing beseechingly: 

"Oh,  bring  this  wagon  home,  John, 
It  will  not  hold  us  a-all." 

For  some  time  there  was  silence  in  the  Scarlet 
Car,  and  then  Winthrop  broke  it  by  laugh- 
ing. 

"First,  I  lose  Peabody,"  he  explained,  "then 
I  lose  Sam,  and  now,  after  I  throw  Fred  over- 
board, I  am  going  to  drive  you  into  Stamford, 
where  they  do  not  ask  runaway  couples  for  a 
license,  and  marry  you." 

The  girl  smiled  comfortably.  In  that  mood 
she  was  not  afraid  of  him. 

She  lifted  her  face,  and  stretched  out  her  arms 
as  though  she  were  drinking  in  the  moonlight. 

"It  has  been  such  a  good  day,"  she  said  sim- 
ply, "and  I  am  really  so  very  happy." 

"I  shall  be  equally  frank,"  said  Winthrop. 
"So  am  I." 


21 


The  Scarlet  Car 

For  two  hours  they  had  been  on  the  road,  and 
were  just  entering  Fairport.  For  some  long  time 
the  voices  of  the  pursuing  grizzlies  had  been  lost 
in  the  far  distance. 

"The  road's  up,"  said  Miss  Forbes. 

She  pointed  ahead  to  two  red  lanterns. 

"  It  was  all  right  this  morning,"  exclaimed  Win- 
throp. 

The  car  was  pulled  down  to  eight  miles  an 
hour,  and,  trembling  and  snorting  at  the  indig- 
nity, nosed  up  to  the  red  lanterns. 

They  showed  in  a  ruddy  glow  the  legs  of  two 
men. 

"You  gotta  stop!"  commanded  a  voice. 

" Why?"  asked  Winthrop. 

The  voice  became  embodied  in  the  person  of  a 
tall  man  with  a  long  overcoat  and  a  drooping 
mustache. 

"'Cause  I  tell  you  to!"  snapped  the  tall  man. 

Winthrop  threw  a  quick  glance  to  the  rear.  In 
that  direction  for  a  mile  the  road  lay  straight 
away.  He  could  see  its  entire  length,  and  it  was 
empty.  In  thinking  of  nothing  but  Miss  Forbes, 
he  had  forgotten  the  chaperon.  He  was  im- 
pressed with  the  fact  that  the  immediate  presence 
of  a  chaperon  was  desirable.  Directly  in  front 
of  the  car,  blocking  its  advance,  were  two  bar- 

22 


The  Scarlet  Car 

rels  with  a  two-inch  plank  sagging  heavily  be- 
tween them.  Beyond  that  the  main  street  of 
Fairport  lay  steeped  in  slumber  and  moonlight. 

"I  am  a  selectman/'  said  the  one  with  the  lan- 
tern. "You  been  exceedin'  our  speed  limit." 

The  chauffeur  gave  a  gasp  that  might  have 
been  construed  to  mean  that  the  charge  amazed 
and  shocked  him. 

"That  is  not  possible,"  Winthrop  answered. 
"I  have  been  going  very  slow — on  purpose — to 
allow  a  disabled  car  to  keep  up  with  me." 

The  selectman  looked  down  the  road. 

"It  ain't  kep'  up  with  you,"  he  said  pointedly. 

"It  has  until  the  last  few  minutes." 

"  It's  the  last  few  minutes  we're  talking  about," 
returned  the  man  who  had  not  spoken.  He  put 
his  foot  on  the  step  of  the  car. 

"What  are  you  doing?"  asked  Winthrop. 

"I  am  going  to  take  you  to  Judge  Allen's.  I 
am  chief  of  police.  You  are  under  arrest." 

Before  Winthrop  rose  moving  pictures  of  Miss 
Forbes  appearing  in  a  dirty  police  station  before 
an  officious  Dogberry,  and,  as  he  and  his  car  were 
well  known  along  the  post  road,  appearing  the 
next  morning  in  the  New  York  papers.  "Will- 
iam Winthrop,"  he  saw  the  printed  words,  "son 
of  Endicott  Winthrop,  was  arrested  here  this 

23 


The  Scarlet  Car 

evening,  with  a  young  woman  who  refused  to 
give  her  name,  but  who  was  recognized  as  Miss 
Beatrice  Forbes,  whose  engagement  to  Ernest 
Peabody,  the  Reform  candidate  on  the  Inde- 
pendent ticket " 

And,  of  course,  Peabody  would  blame  her. 

"  If  I  have  exceeded  your  speed  limit,"  he  said 
politely,  "I  shall  be  delighted  to  pay  the  fine. 
How  much  is  it  ? " 

"Judge  Allen  '11  tell  you  what  the  fine  is,"  said 
the  selectman  gruffly.  "And  he  may  want  bail." 

"Bail  ?"  demanded  Winthrop.  "Do  you  mean 
to  tell  me  he  will  detain  us  here  ?" 

"He  will,  if  he  wants  to,"  answered  the  chief 
of  police  combatively. 

For  an  instant  Winthrop  sat  gazing  gloomily 
ahead,  overcome  apparently  by  the  enormity  of 
his  offence.  He  was  calculating  whether,  if  he 
rammed  the  two-inch  plank,  it  would  hit  the  car 
or  Miss  Forbes.  He  decided  swiftly  it  would  hit 
his  new  two-hundred-dollar  lamps.  As  swiftly  he 
decided  the  new  lamps  must  go.  But  he  had 
read  of  guardians  of  the  public  safety  so  regard- 
less of  private  safety  as  to  try  to  puncture  run- 
away tires  with  pistol  bullets.  He  had  no  inten- 
tion of  subjecting  Miss  Forbes  to  a  fusillade. 

So  he  whirled  upon  the  chief  of  police: 
24 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"Take  your  hand  off  that  gun!'*  he  growled. 
"How  dare  you  threaten  me?" 

Amazed,  the  chief  of  police  dropped  from  the 
step  and  advanced  indignantly. 

"Me?"  he  demanded.  "I  ain't  got  a  gun. 
What  you  mean  by 

With  sudden  intelligence,  the  chauffeur  pre- 
cipitated himself  upon  the  scene. 

"It's  the  other  one,"  he  shouted.  He  shook 
an  accusing  finger  at  the  selectman.  "He  pointed 
it  at  the  lady."  • 

To  Miss  Forbes  the  realism  of  Fred's  acting  was 
too  convincing.  To  learn  that  one  is  covered  with 
a  loaded  revolver  is  disconcerting.  Miss  Forbes 
gave  a  startled  squeak,  and  ducked  her  head. 

Winthrop  roared  aloud  at  the  selectman. 

"How  dare  you  frighten  the  lady!"  he  cried. 
"Take  your  hand  off  that  gun." 

"What  you  talkin'  about?"  shouted  the  select- 
man. "The  idea  of  my  havin'  a  gun!  I  haven't 
got  a " 

"All  right,  Fred!"  cried  Winthrop.  "Low 
bridge." 

There  was  a  crash  of  shattered  glass  and  brass, 
of  scattered  barrel  staves,  the  smell  of  escaping 
gas,  and  the  Scarlet  Car  was  flying  drunkenly 
down  the  main  street. 

25 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"What  are  they  doing  now,  Fred?"  called  the 
owner.  Fred  peered  over  the  stern  of  the  flying  car. 

"The  constable's  jumping  around  the  road/' 
he  replied,  "and  the  long  one's  leaning  against  a 
tree.  No,  he's  climbing  the  tree.  I  can't  make 
out  what  he's  doing." 

"/  know!"  cried  Miss  Forbes;  her  voice  vibrated 
with  excitement.  Defiance  of  the  law  had  thrilled 
her  with  unsuspected  satisfaction;  her  eyes  were 
dancing.  "There  was  a  telephone  fastened  to  the 
tree,  a  hand  telephone.  They  are  sending  word  to 
some  one.  They're  trying  to  head  us  off." 

Winthrop  brought  the  car  to  a  quick  halt. 

"We're  in  a  police  trap!"  he  said.  Fred  leaned 
forward  and  whispered  to  his  employer.  His 
voice  also  vibrated  with  the  joy  of  the  chase. 

"This  'II  be  our  third  arrest,"  he  said.  "That 
means " 

"I  know  what  it  means,"  snapped  Winthrop. 
"Tell  me  how  we  can  get  out  of  here." 

"We  can't  get  out  of  here,  sir,  unless  we  go 
back.  Going  south,  the  bridge  is  the  only  way 


out." 


"The  bridge!"  Winthrop  struck  the  wheel 
savagely  with  his  knuckles.  "I  forgot  their  con- 
founded bridge!"  He  turned  to  Miss  Forbes. 
"Fairport  is  a  sort  of  island,"  he  explained. 

26 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"But  after  we're  across  the  bridge,"  urged  the 
chauffeur,  "we  needn't  keep  to  the  post  road  no 
more.  We  can  turn  into  Stone  Ridge,  and  strike 
south  to  White  Plains.  Then " 

"We  haven't  crossed  the  bridge  yet/'  growled 
Winthrop.  His  voice  had  none  of  the  joy  of  the 
others;  he  was  greatly  perturbed.  "Look  back," 
he  commanded,  "and  see  if  there  is  any  sign  of 
those  boys." 

He  was  now  quite  willing  to  share  responsibil- 
ity. But  there  was  no  sign  of  the  Yale  men,  and, 
unattended,  the  Scarlet  Car  crept  warily  forward. 
Ahead  of  it,  across  the  little  reed-grown  inlet, 
stretched  their  road  of  escape,  a  long  wooden 
bridge,  lying  white  in  the  moonlight. 

"I  don't  see  a  soul,"  whispered  Miss  Forbes. 

"Anybody  at  that  draw?"  asked  Winthrop. 
Unconsciously  his  voice  also  had  sunk  to  a  whisper. 

"No,"  returned  Fred.  "I  think  the  man  that 
tends  the  draw  goes  home  at  night;  there  is  no 
light  there." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Winthrop,  with  an  anxious 
sigh,  "we've  got  to  make  a  dash  for  it." 

The  car  shot  forward,  and,  as  it  leaped  lightly 
upon  the  bridge,  there  was  a  rapid  rumble  of 
creaking  boards. 

Between  it  and  the  highway  to  New  York  lay 
27 


The  Scarlet  Car 

only  two  hundred  yards  of  track,  straight  and 
empty. 

In  his  excitement,  the  chauffeur  rose  from  the 
rear  seat. 

"  They'll  never  catch  us  now,"  he  muttered. 
"They'll  never  catch  us!" 

But  even  as  he  spoke  there  grated  harshly  the 
creak  of  rusty  chains  on  a  cogged  wheel,  the  rattle 
of  a  brake.  The  black  figure  of  a  man  with  wav- 
ing arms  ran  out  upon  the  draw,  and  the  draw 
gaped  slowly  open. 

When  the  car  halted  there  was  between  it  and 
the  broken  edge  of  the  bridge  twenty  feet  of  run- 
ning water. 

At  the  same  moment  from  behind  it  came  a 
patter  of  feet,  and  Winthrop  turned  to  see  racing 
toward  them  some  dozen  young  men  of  Fairport. 
They  surrounded  him  with  noisy,  raucous,  bel- 
ligerent cries.  They  were,  as  they  proudly  in- 
formed him,  members  of  the  Fairport  "Volunteer 
Fire  Department."  That  they  might  purchase 
new  uniforms,  they  had  arranged  a  trap  for  the 
automobiles  returning  in  illegal  haste  from  New 
Haven.  In  fines  they  had  collected  $300,  and  it 
was  evident  that  already  some  of  that  money  had 
been  expended  in  bad  whiskey.  As  many  as 
could  do  so  crowded  into  the  car,  others  hung  to 

28 


The  Scarlet  Car 

the  running  boards  and  step,  others  ran  beside 
it.  They  rejoiced  over  Winthrop's  unsuccessful 
flight  and  capture  with  violent  and  humiliating 
laughter. 

For  the  day,  Judge  Allen  had  made  a  tempo- 
rary court  in  the  club-room  of  the  fire  department, 
which  was  over  the  engine-house;  and  the  pro- 
ceedings were  brief  and  decisive.  The  selectman 
told  how  Winthrop,  after  first  breaking  the  speed 
law,  had  broken  arrest,  and  Judge  Allen,  refusing 
to  fine  him  and  let  him  go,  held  him  and  his  com- 
panions for  a  hearing  the  following  morning.  He 
fixed  the  amount  of  bail  at  $500  each;  failing  to 
pay  this,  they  would  for  the  night  be  locked  up  in 
different  parts  of  the  engine-house,  which,  it  de- 
veloped, contained  on  the  ground-floor  the  home 
of  the  fire-engine,  on  the  second  floor  the  club- 
room,  on  alternate  nights,  of  the  firemen,  the  local 
G.  A.  R.,  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  in  its 
cellar  the  town  jail. 

Winthrop  and  the  chauffeur  the  learned  judge 
condemned  to  the  cells  in  the  basement.  As  a 
concession,  he  granted  Miss  Forbes  the  freedom 
of  the  entire  club-room  to  herself. 

The  objections  raised  by  Winthrop  to  this  ar- 
rangement were  of  a  nature  so  violent,  so  vigor- 
ous, at  one  moment  so  specious  and  conciliatory, 

29 


The  Scarlet  Car 

and  the  next  so  abusive,  that  his  listeners  were 
moved  by  awe,  but  not  to  pity. 

In  his  indignation,  Judge  Allen  rose  to  reply, 
and  as,  the  better  to  hear  him,  the  crowd  pushed 
forward,  Fred  gave  way  before  it,  until  he  was 
left  standing  in  sullen  gloom  upon  its  outer  edge. 
In  imitation  of  the  real  firemen  of  the  great  cities, 
the  vamps  of  Fairport  had  cut  a  circular  hole  in 
the  floor  of  their  club-room,  and  from  the  engine- 
room  below  had  reared  a  sliding  pole  of  shining 
brass.  When  leaving  their  club-room,  it  was  al- 
ways their  pleasure  to  scorn  the  stairs  and,  like 
real  firemen,  slide  down  this  pole.  It  had  not 
escaped  the  notice  of  Fred,  and  since  his  entrance 
he  had  been  gravitating  toward  it. 

As  the  voice  of  the  judge  rose  in  violent  ob- 
jurgation, and  all  eyes  were  fixed  upon  him,  the 
chauffeur  crooked  his  leg  tightly  about  the  brass 
pole,  and,  like  the  devil  in  the  pantomime,  sank 
softly  and  swiftly  through  the  floor. 

The  irate  judge  was  shaking  his  finger  in  Win- 
throp's  face. 

"  Don't  you  try  to  teach  me  no  law,"  he  shouted; 
"I  know  what  I  can  do.  Ef  my  darter  went  gal- 
livantin*  around  nights  in  one  of  them  automo- 
biles, it  would  serve  her  right  to  get  locked  up. 
Maybe  this  young  woman  will  learn  to  stay  at 

30 


The  Scarlet  Car 

home  nights  with  her  folks.  She  ain't  goin*  to 
take  no  harm  here.  The  constable  sits  up  all 
night  downstairs  in  the  fire-engine-room,  and  that 
sofa's  as  good  a  place  to  sleep  as  the  hotel.  If 
you  want  me  to  let  her  go  to  the  hotel,  why  don't 
you  send  to  your  folks  and  bail  her  out?" 

"You  know  damn  well  why  I  don't,"  returned 
Winthrop.  "I  don't  intend  to  give  the  news- 
papers and  you  and  these  other  idiots  the  chance 
to  annoy  her  further.  This  young  lady's  brother 
has  been  with  us  all  day;  he  left  us  only  by  acci- 
dent, and  by  forcing  her  to  remain  here  alone  you 
are  acting  outrageously.  If  you  knew  anything 
of  decency,  or  law,  you'd " 

"I  know  this  much!"  roared  the  justice  tri- 
umphantly, pointing  his  spectacle-case  at  Miss 
Forbes.  "I  know  her  name  ain't  Lizzie  Borden, 
and  yours  ain't  Charley  Ross." 

Winthrop  crossed  to  where  Miss  Forbes  stood 
in  a  corner.  She  still  wore  her  veil,  but  through 
it,  though  her  face  was  pale,  she  smiled  at  him. 

His  own  distress  was  undisguised. 

"I  can  never  forgive  myself,"  he  said. 

"Nonsense!"  replied  Miss  Forbes  briskly. 
"You  were  perfectly  right.  If  we  had  sent  for 
any  one,  it  would  have  had  to  come  out.  Now, 
we'll  pay  the  fine  in  the  morning  and  get  home, 


The  Scarlet  Car 

and  no  one  will  know  anything  of  it  excepting  the 
family  and  Mr.  Peabody,  and  they'll  understand. 
But  if  I  ever  lay  hands  on  my  brother  Sam!" — • 
she  clasped  her  fingers  together  helplessly.  "To 
think  of  his  leaving  you  to  spend  the  night  in  a 
cell " 

Winthrop  interrupted  her. 

"  I  will  get  one  of  these  men  to  send  his  wife  or 
sister  over  to  stay  with  you,"  he  said. 

But  Miss  Forbes  protested  that  she  did  not 
want  a  companion.  The  constable  would  pro- 
tect her,  she  said,  and  she  would  sit  up  all  night 
and  read.  She  nodded  at  the  periodicals  on  the 
club  table. 

"This  is  the  only  chance  I  may  ever  have," 
she  said,  "to  read  the  Police  Gazette!" 

"You  ready  there?"    called  the  constable. 

"Good-night,"  said  Winthrop. 

Under  the  eyes  of  the  grinning  yokels,  they 
shook  hands. 

"Good-night,"  said  the  girl. 

"Where's  your  young  man?"  demanded  the 
chief  of  police. 

"My  what?"    inquired  Winthrop. 

"The  young  fellow  that  was  with  you  when  we 
held  you  up  that  first  time." 

The  constable,  or  the  chief  of  police  as  he  called 
32 


The  Scarlet  Car 

himself,  on  the  principle  that  if  there  were  only 
one  policeman  he  must  necessarily  be  the  chief, 
glanced  hastily  over  the  heads  of  the  crowd. 

"Any  of  you  holding  that  shoffer  ?"  he  called. 

No  one  was  holding  the  chauffeur. 

The  chauffeur  had  vanished. 

The  cell  to  which  the  constable  led  Winthrop 
was  in  a  corner  of  the  cellar  in  which  formerly 
coal  had  been  stored.  This  corner  was  now 
fenced  off  with  boards,  and  a  wooden  door  with 
chain  and  padlock. 

High  in  the  wall,  on  a  level  with  the  ground, 
was  the  opening,  or  window,  through  which  the 
coal  had  been  dumped.  This  window  now  was 
barricaded  with  iron  bars.  Winthrop  tested  the 
door  by  shaking  it,  and  landed  a  heavy  kick  on 
one  of  the  hinges.  It  gave  slightly,  and  emitted 
a  feeble  groan. 

"What  you  tryin*  to  do?"  demanded  the  con- 
stable. "That's  town  property." 

In  the  light  of  the  constable's  lantern,  Win- 
throp surveyed  his  cell  with  extreme  dissatisfac- 
tion. 

"I  call  this  a  cheap  cell,"  he  said. 

"It's  good  enough  for  a  cheap  sport,"  returned 
the  constable.  It  was  so  overwhelming  a  retort 
that  after  the  constable  had  turned  the  key  in  the 

33 


The  Scarlet  Car 

padlock,  and  taken  himself  and  his  lantern  to  the 
floor  above,  Winthrop  could  hear  him  repeating 
it  to  the  volunteer  firemen.  They  received  it  with 
delighted  howls. 

For  an  hour,  on  the  three  empty  boxes  that 
formed  his  bed,  Winthrop  sat,  with  his  chin  on 
his  fist,  planning  the  nameless  atrocities  he  would 
inflict  upon  the  village  of  Fairport.  Compared  to 
his  tortures,  those  of  Neuremberg  were  merely 
reprimands.  Also  he  considered  the  particular 
punishment  he  would  mete  out  to  Sam  Forbes  for 
his  desertion  of  his  sister,  and  to  Fred.  He  could 
not  understand  Fred.  It  was  not  like  the  chauf- 
feur to  think  only  of  himself.  Nevertheless,  for 
abandoning  Miss  Forbes  in  the  hour  of  need, 
Fred  must  be  discharged.  He  had,  with  some 
regret,  determined  upon  this  discipline,  when  from 
directly  over  his  head  the  voice  of  Fred  hailed 
him  cautiously. 

"Mr.  Winthrop,"  the  voice  called,  "are  you 
there?" 

To  Winthrop  the  question  seemed  superfluous. 
He  jumped  to  his  feet,  and  peered  up  into  the 
darkness. 

"Where  are  you?"  he  demanded. 

"At  the  window,"  came  the  answer.  "We're  in 
the  back  yard.  Mr.  Sam  wants  to  speak  to  you." 

34 


The  Scarlet  Car 

On  Miss  Forbes' s  account,  Winthrop  gave  a 
gasp  of  relief.  On  his  own,  one  of  savage  satis- 
faction. 

"And  /  want  to  speak  to  him  /"  he  whispered. 

The  moonlight,  which  had  been  faintly  shining 
through  the  iron  bars  of  the  coal  chute,  was 
eclipsed  by  a  head  and  shoulders.  The  comfort- 
able voice  of  Sam  Forbes  greeted  him  in  a  playful 
whisper. 

"Hullo,  Billy!    You  down  there?" 

"Where  the  devil  did  you  think  I  was  ?"  Win- 
throp answered  at  white  heat.  "Let  me  tell  you 
if  I  was  not  down  here  I'd  be  punching  your 
head." 

"That's  all  right,  Billy,"  Sam  answered  sooth- 
ingly. "But  I'll  save  you  just  the  same.  It 
shall  never  be  said  of  Sam  Forbes  he  deserted  a 
comrade " 

"Stop  that!  Do  you  know,"  Winthrop  de- 
manded fiercely,  "that  your  sister  is  a  prisoner 
upstairs  ?" 

"I  do,"  replied  the  unfeeling  brother,  "but 
she  won't  be  long.  All  the  low-comedy  parts  are 
out  now  arranging  a  rescue." 

"Who  are  ?  Todd  and  those  boys  ?"  demanded 
Winthrop.  "They  mustn't  think  of  it!  They'll 
only  make  it  worse.  It  is  impossible  to  get  your 

35 


The  Scarlet  Car 

sister  out  of  here  with  those  drunken  firemen  in 
the  building.  You  must  wait  till  they've  gone 
home.  Do  you  hear  me  ? " 

"Pardon  me!"  returned  Sam  stiffly,  "but  this 
is  my  relief  expedition.  I  have  sent  two  of  the 
boys  to  hold  the  bridge,  like  Horatius,  and  two  to 
guard  the  motors,  and  the  others  are  going  to 
entice  the  firemen  away  from  the  engine-house." 

"Entice  them?  How?"  demanded  Winthrop. 
"They're  drunk,  and  they  won't  leave  here  till 
morning." 

Outside  the  engine-house,  suspended  from  a 
heavy  cross-bar,  was  a  steel  rail  borrowed  from  a 
railroad  track,  and  bent  into  a  hoop.  When  hit 
with  a  sledge-hammer  it  proclaimed  to  Fairport 
that  the  "consuming  element"  was  at  large. 

At  the  moment  Winthrop  asked  his  question, 
over  the  village  of  Fairport  and  over  the  bay  and 
marshes,  and  far  out  across  the  Sound,  the  great 
steel  bar  sent  forth  a  shuddering  boom  of  warn- 
ing. 

From  the  room  above  came  a  wild  tumult  of 
joyous  yells. 

"Fire!"  shrieked  the  vamps,  "fire!" 

The  two  men  crouching  by  the  cellar  window 
heard  the  rush  of  feet,  the  engine  banging  and 
bumping  across  the  sidewalk,  its  brass  bell  clank- 

36 


The  Scarlet  Car 

ing  crazily,  the  happy  vamps  shouting  hoarse, 
incoherent  orders. 

Through  the  window  Sam  lowered  a  bag  of 
tools  he  had  taken  from  Winthrop's  car. 

"Can  you  open  the  lock  with  any  of  these?" 
he  asked. 

"I  can  kick  it  open!"  yelled  Winthrop  joy- 
fully. "Get  to  your  sister,  quick!" 

He  threw  his  shoulder  against  the  door,  and  the 
staples  flying  before  him  sent  him  sprawling  in 
the  coal-dust.  When  he  reached  the  head  of  the 
stairs,  Beatrice  Forbes  was  descending  from  the 
club-room,  and  in  front  of  the  door  the  two  cars, 
with  their  lamps  unlit  and  numbers  hidden,  were 
panting  to  be  free. 

And  in  the  north,  reaching  to  the  sky,  rose  a 
roaring  column  of  flame,  shameless  in  the  pale 
moonlight,  dragging  into  naked  day  the  sleeping 
village,  the  shingled  houses,  the  clock-face  in  the 
church  steeple. 

"What  the  devil  have  you  done  ?"  gasped  Win- 
throp. 

Before  he  answered,  Sam  waited  until  the  cars 
were  rattling  to  safety  across  the  bridge. 

"We  have  been  protecting  the  face  of  nature," 
he  shouted.  "The  only  way  to  get  that  gang  out 
of  the  engine-house  was  to  set  fire  to  something. 

37 


The  Scarlet  Car 

Tommy  wanted  to  burn  up  the  railroad  station, 
because  he  doesn't  like  the  New  York  and  New 
Haven,  and  Fred  was  for  setting  fire  to  Judge 
Allen's  house,  because  he  was  rude  to  Beatrice. 
But  we  finally  formed  the  Village  Improvement 
Society,  organized  to  burn  all  advertising  signs. 
You  know  those  that  stood  in  the  marshes,  and 
hid  the  view  from  the  trains,  so  that  you  could 
not  see  the  Sound.  We  chopped  them  down  and 
put  them  in  a  pile,  and  poured  gasolene  on  them, 
and  that  fire  is  all  that  is  left  of  the  pickles,  fly- 
screens,  and  pills." 

It  was  midnight  when  the  cars  drew  up  at  the 
door  of  the  house  of  Forbes.  Anxiously  waiting 
in  the  library  were  Mrs.  Forbes  and  Ernest  Pea- 
body. 

"At  last!"  cried  Mrs.  Forbes,  smiling  her  relief; 
"we  thought  maybe  Sam  and  you  had  decided  to 
spend  the  night  in  New  Haven." 

"No,"  said  Miss  Forbes,  "there  was  some  talk 
about  spending  the  night  at  Fairport,  but  we 
pushed  right  on/' 


II 

THE  TRESPASSERS 

WITH  a  long,  nervous  shudder,  the  Scarlet 
Car  came  to  a  stop,  and  the  lamps  bored 
a  round  hole  in  the  night,  leaving  the  rest  of  the 
encircling  world  in  a  chill  and  silent  darkness. 

The  lamps  showed  a  flickering  picture  of  a 
country  road  between  high  banks  covered  with 
loose  stones,  and  overhead,  a  fringe  of  pine  boughs. 
It  looked  like  a  colored  photograph  thrown  from 
a  stereopticon  in  a  darkened  theatre. 

From  the  back  of  the  car  the  voice  of  the  owner 
said  briskly:  "We  will  now  sing  that  beautiful 
ballad  entitled  'He  Is  Sleeping  in  the  Yukon  Vale 
To-night.'  What  are  you  stopping  for,  Fred  ? " 
he  asked. 

The  tone  of  the  chauffeur  suggested  he  was 
again  upon  the  defensive. 

"For  water,  sir,"  he  mumbled. 

Miss  Forbes  in  the  front  seat  laughed,  and  her 
brother  in  the  rear  seat  groaned  in  dismay. 

39 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"Oh,  for  water?"  said  the  owner  cordially. 
"I  thought  maybe  it  was  for  coal." 

Save  a  dignified  silence,  there  was  no  answer  to 
this,  until  there  came  a  rolling  of  loose  stones  and 
the  sound  of  a  heavy  body  suddenly  precipitated 
down  the  bank,  and  landing  with  a  thump  in  the 
road. 

"He  didn't  get  the  water,"  said  the  owner 
sadly. 

"Are  you  hurt,  Fred?"  asked  the  girl. 

The  chauffeur  limped  in  front  of  the  lamps, 
appearing  suddenly,  like  an  actor  stepping  into 
the  lime-light. 

"No,  ma'am,"  he  said.  In  the  rays  of  the 
lamp,  he  unfolded  a  road  map  and  scowled  at  it. 
He  shook  his  head  aggrievedly. 

"There  ought  to  be  a  house  just  about  here/' 
he  explained. 

"There  ought  to  be  a  hotel  and  a  garage,  and 
a  cold  supper,  just  about  here,"  said  the  girl 
cheerfully. 

"That's  the  way  with  those  houses,"  com- 
plained the  owner.  "They  never  stay  where 
they're  put.  At  night  they  go  around  and  visit 
each  other.  Where  do  you  think  you  are,  Fred  ?" 

"I  think  we're  in  that  long  woods,  between 
Loon  Lake  and  Stoughton  on  the  Boston  Pike," 

40 


The  Scarlet  Car 

said  the  chauffeur,  "and/5  he  reiterated,  "there 
ought  to  be  a  house  somewhere  about  here — where 
we  get  water." 

"Well,  get  there,  then,  and  get  the  water," 
commanded  the  owner. 

"  But  I  can't  get  there,  sir,  till  I  get  the  water," 
returned  the  chauffeur. 

He  shook  out  two  collapsible  buckets,  and 
started  down  the  shaft  of  light. 

"I  won't  be  more  nor  five  minutes,"  he  called. 

"  I'm  going  with  him,"  said  the  girl.  "  I'm  cold." 

She  stepped  down  from  the  front  seat,  and  the 
owner  with  sudden  alacrity  vaulted  the  door  and 
started  after  her. 

"You  coming?"  he  inquired  of  Ernest  Pea- 
body.  But  Ernest  Peabody  being  soundly  asleep 
made  no  reply.  Winthrop  turned  to  Sam.  "Are 
you  coming?"  he  repeated. 

The  tone  of  the  invitation  seemed  to  suggest  that 
a  refusal  would  not  necessarily  lead  to  a  quarrel. 

"I  am  not!"  said  the  brother.  "You've  kept 
Peabody  and  me  twelve  hours  in  the  open  air,  and 
it's  past  two,  and  we're  going  to  sleep.  You  can 
take  it  from  me  that  we  are  going  to  spend  the  rest 
of  this  night  here  in  this  road." 

He  moved  his  cramped  joints  cautiously,  and 
stretched  his  legs  the  full  width  of  the  car. 

41 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"If  you  can't  get  plain  water,"  he  called,  "get 
club  soda." 

He  buried  his  nose  in  the  collar  of  his  fur  coat, 
and  the  odors  of  camphor  and  raccoon  skins  in- 
stantly assailed  him,  but  he  only  yawned  luxuri- 
ously and  disappeared  into  the  coat  as  a  turtle 
draws  into  its  shell.  From  the  woods  about  him 
the  smell  of  the  pine  needles  pressed  upon  him 
like  a  drug,  and  before  the  footsteps  of  his  com- 
panions were  lost  in  the  silence  he  was  asleep. 
But  his  sleep  was  only  a  review  of  his  waking 
hours.  Still  on  either  hand  rose  flying  dust  clouds 
and  twirling  leaves;  still  on  either  side  raced  gray 
stone  walls,  telegraph  poles,  hills  rich  in  autumn 
colors;  and  before  him  a  long  white  road,  unend- 
ing, interminable,  stretching  out  finally  into  a 
darkness  lit  by  flashing  shop-windows,  like  open 
fireplaces,  by  street  lamps,  by  swinging  electric 
globes,  by  the  blinding  searchlights  of  hundreds 
of  darting  trolley  cars  with  terrifying  gongs,  and 
then  a  cold  white  mist,  and  again  on  every  side, 
darkness,  except  where  the  four  great  lamps 
blazed  a  path  through  stretches  of  ghostly  woods. 

As  the  two  young  men  slumbered,  the  lamps 
spluttered  and  sizzled  like  bacon  in  a  frying-pan, 
a  stone  rolled  noisily  down  the  bank,  a  white 
owl,  both  appalled  and  fascinated  by  the  daz- 

42 


The  Scarlet  Car 

zling  eyes  of  the  monster  blocking  the  road, 
hooted,  and  flapped  itself  away.  But  the  men  in 
the  car  only  shivered  slightly,  deep  in  the  sleep  of 
utter  weariness. 

In  silence  the  girl  and  Winthrop  followed  the 
chauffeur.  They  had  passed  out  of  the  light  of 
the  lamps,  and  in  the  autumn  mist  the  electric 
torch  of  the  owner  was  as  ineffective  as  a  glow- 
worm. The  mystery  of  the  forest  fell  heavily 
upon  them.  From  their  feet  the  dead  leaves  sent 
up  a  clean,  damp  odor,  and  on  either  side  and 
overhead  the  giant  pine-trees  whispered  and  rus- 
tled in  the  night  wind. 

"Take  my  coat,  too,"  said  the  young  man. 
"You'll  catch  cold."  He  spoke  with  authority 
and  began  to  slip  the  loops  from  the  big  horn 
buttons.  It  was  not  the  habit  of  the  girl  to  con- 
sider her  health.  Nor  did  she  permit  the  mem- 
bers of  her  family  to  show  solicitude  concerning 
it.  But  the  anxiety  of  the  young  man  did  not 
seem  to  offend  her.  She  thanked  him  gener- 
ously. "No;  these  coats  are  hard  to  walk  in,  and 
I  want  to  walk,"  she  exclaimed.  "I  like  to  hear 
the  leaves  rustle  when  you  kick  them,  don't  you  ? 
When  I  was  so  high,  I  used  to  pretend  it  was 
wading  in  the  surf." 

The  young  man  moved  over  to  the  gutter  of 
43 


The  Scarlet  Car 

the  road  where  the  leaves  were  deepest  and  kicked 
violently.  "And  the  more  noise  you  make,"  he  said, 
"the  more  you  frighten  away  the  wild  animals/' 

The  girl  shuddered  in  a  most  helpless  and  fas- 
cinating fashion. 

"Don't!"  she  whispered.  "I  didn't  mention 
it,  but  already  I  have  seen  several  lions  crouching 
behind  the  trees." 

"Indeed  ?"  said  the  young  man.  His  tone  was 
preoccupied.  He  had  just  kicked  a  rock,  hidden 
by  the  leaves,  and  was  standing  on  one  leg. 

"Do  you  mean  you  don't  believe  me?"  asked 
the  girl,  "or  is  it  that  you  are  merely  brave  ?" 

"Merely  brave!"  exclaimed  the  young  man. 
"  Massachusetts  is  so  far  north  for  lions,"  he  con- 
tinued, "that  I  fancy  what  you  saw  was  a  grizzly 
bear.  But  I  have  my  trusty  electric  torch  with 
me,  and  if  there  is  anything  a  bear  cannot  abide, 
it  is  to  be  pointed  at  by  an  electric  torch." 

"Let  us  pretend,"  cried  the  girl,  "that  we  are 
the  babes  in  the  wood,  and  that  we  are  lost." 

"We  don't  have  to  pretend  we're  lost,"  said 
the  man ;  "and  as  I  remember  it,  the  babes  came 
to  a  sad  end.  Didn't  they  die,  and  didn't  the 
birds  bury  them  with  leaves?" 

"Sam  and  Mr.  Peabody  can  be  the  birds/! 
suggested  the  girl. 

44 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"  Sam  and  Peabody  hopping  around  with  leaves 
in  their  teeth  would  look  silly,"  objected  the  man. 
"  I  doubt  if  I  could  keep  from  laughing." 

"Then,"  said  the  girl,  "they  can  be  the  wicked 
robbers  who  came  to  kill  the  babes/* 

"Very  well,"  said  the  man  with  suspicious  alac- 
rity, "let  us  be  babes.  If  I  have  to  die,"  he  went 
on  heartily,  "I  would  rather  die  with  you  than 
live  with  any  one  else." 

When  he  had  spoken,  although  they  were  en- 
tirely alone  in  the  world  and  quite  near  to  each 
other,  it  was  as  though  the  girl  could  not  hear 
him,  even  as  though  he  had  not  spoken  at  all. 
After  a  silence,  the  girl  said:  "Perhaps  it  would 
be  better  for  us  to  go  back  to  the  car." 

"I  won't  do  it  again,"  begged  the  man. 

"We  will  pretend,"  cried  the  girl,  "that  the 
car  is  a  van  and  that  we  are  gypsies,  and  we'll 
build  a  camp-fire,  and  I  will  tell  your  fortune." 

"You  are  the  only  woman  who  can,"  muttered 
the  young  man. 

The  girl  still  stood  in  her  tracks. 

"You  said — "  she  began. 

"I  know,"  interrupted  the  man,  "but  you 
won't  let  me  talk  seriously,  so  I  joke.  But  some 
day " 

"Oh,  look!"  cried  the  girl.  "There's  Fred." 
45 


The  Scarlet  Car 

She  ran  from  him  down  the  road.  The  young 
man  followed  her  slowly,  his  fists  deep  in  the 
pockets  of  the  great-coat,  and  kicking  at  the  un- 
offending leaves. 

The  chauffeur  was  peering  through  a  double 
iron  gate  hung  between  square  brick  posts.  The 
lower  hinge  of  one  gate  was  broken,  and  that  gate 
lurched  forward,  leaving  an  opening.  By  the 
light  of  the  electric  torch  they  could  see  the  begin- 
ning of  a  driveway,  rough  and  weed-grown,  lined 
with  trees  of  great  age  and  bulk,  and  an  unkempt 
lawn,  strewn  with  bushes,  and  beyond,  in  an  open 
place  bare  of  trees  and  illuminated  faintly  by  the 
stars,  the  shadow  of  a  house,  black,  silent,  and 
forbidding. 

"That's  it,"  whispered  the  chauffeur.  "I  was 
here  before.  The  well  is  over  there." 

The  young  man  gave  a  gasp  of  astonishment. 

"Why,"  he  protested,  "this  is  the  Carey  place! 
I  should  say  we  were  lost.  We  must  have  left 
the  road  an  hour  ago.  There's  not  another  house 
within  miles."  But  he  made  no  movement  to 
enter.  "Of  all  places!"  he  muttered. 

"Well,  then,"  urged  the  girl  briskly,  "if  there's 
no  other  house,  let's  tap  Mr.  Carey's  well  and 
get  on." 

"  Do  you  know  who  he  is  ? "   asked  the  man. 
46 


The  Scarlet  Car 

The  girl  laughed.  "You  don't  need  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  take  a  bucket  of  water,  do  you  ?" 
she  said. 

"It's  Philip  Carey's  house.  He  lives  here." 
He  spoke  in  a  whisper,  and  insistently,  as  though 
the  information  must  .carry  some  special  signifi- 
cance. But  the  girl  showed  no  sign  of  enlighten- 
ment. "You  remember  the  Carey  boys?"  he 
urged.  "They  left  Harvard  the  year  I  entered. 
They  had  to  leave.  They  were  quite  mad.  All 
the  Careys  have  been  mad.  The  boys  were  queer 
even  then,  and  awfully  rich.  Henry  ran  away 
with  a  girl  from  a  shoe  factory  in  Brockton  and 
lives  in  Paris,  and  Philip  was  sent  here." 

"  Sent  here  ? "  repeated  the  girl.  Unconsciously 
her  voice  also  had  sunk  to  a  whisper. 

"He  has  a  doctor  and  a  nurse  and  keepers,  and 
they  live  here  all  the  year  round.  When  Fred 
said  there  were  people  hereabouts,  I  thought  we 
might  strike  them  for  something  to  eat,  or  even 
to  put  up  for  the  night,  but,  Philip  Carey!  I 
shouldn't  fancy " 

"I  should  think  not!"  exclaimed  the  girl. 

For  a  minute  the  three  stood  silent,  peering 
through  the  iron  bars. 

"And  the  worst  of  it  is,"  went  on  the  young  man 
irritably, "he  could  give  us  such  good  things  to  eat/! 

47 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"It  doesn't  look  it,"  said  the  girl. 

"I  know,"  continued  the  man  in  the  same 
eager  whisper.  "But — who  was  it  telling  me? 
Some  doctor  I  know  who  came  down  to  see  him. 
He  said  Carey  does  himself  awfully  well,  has  the 
house  full  of  bully  pictures,  and  the  family  plate, 
and  wonderful  collections — things  he  picked  up  in 
the  East — gold  ornaments,  and  jewels,  and  jade." 

"I  shouldn't  think,"  said  the  girl  in  the  same 
hushed  voice,  "they  would  let  him  live  so  far 
from  any  neighbors  With  such  things  in  the  house. 
Suppose  burglars " 

"Burglars!  Burglars  would  never  hear  of  this 
place.  How  could  they  ?  Even  his  friends  think 
it's  just  a  private  mad-house." 

The  girl  shivered  and  drew  back  from  the  gate. 

Fred  coughed  apologetically. 

"I've  heard  of  it,"  he  volunteered.  "There  was 
a  piece  in  the  Sunday  Post.  It  said  he  eats  his 
dinner  in  a  diamond  crown,  and  all  the  walls 
is  gold,  and  two  monkeys  wait  on  table  with 
gold " 

"Nonsense!"  said  the  man  sharply.  "He  eats 
like  any  one  else  and  dresses  like  any  one  else. 
How  far  is  the  well  from  the  house  ? " 

"It's  purty  near,"  said  the  chauffeur. 

"Pretty  near  the  house,  or  pretty  near  here?" 
48 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"Just  outside  the  kitchen;  and  it  makes  a 
creaky  noise." 

"You  mean  you  don't  want  to  go?" 

Fred's  answer  was  unintelligible. 

"You  wait  here  with  Miss  Forbes,"  said  the 
young  man.  "And  I'll  get  the  water." 

"Yes,  sir!"  said  Fred,  quite  distinctly. 

"No,  sir!"  said  Miss  Forbes,  with  equal  dis- 
tinctness. "I'm  not  going  to  be  left  here  alone — 
with  all  these  trees.  I'm  going  with  you." 

"There  may  be  a  dog,"  suggested  the  young 
man,  "or,  I  was  thinking  if  they  heard  me  prowl- 
ing about,  they  might  take  a  shot — just  for  luck. 
Why  don't  you  go  back  to  the  car  with  Fred?" 

"Down  that  long  road  in  the  dark  ?"  exclaimed 
the  girl.  "Do  you  think  I  have  no  imagination  ?" 

The  man  in  front,  the  girl  close  on  his  heels, 
and  the  boy  with  the  buckets  following,  crawled 
through  the  broken  gate,  and  moved  cautiously 
up  the  gravel  driveway. 

Within  fifty  feet  of  the  house  the  courage  of  the 
chauffeur  returned. 

"You  wait  here,"  he  whispered,  "and  if  I  wake 
'em  up,  you  shout  to  'em  that  it's  all  right,  that 
it's  only  me." 

"Your  idea  being,"  said  the  young  man,  "that 
they  will  then  fire  at  me.  Clever  lad.  Run  along." 

49 


The  Scarlet  Car 

There  was  a  rustling  of  the  dead  weeds,  and 
instantly  the  chauffeur  was  swallowed  in  the  en- 
compassing shadows. 

Miss  Forbes  leaned  toward  the  young  man. 

"Do  you  see  a  light  in  that  lower  story  ?"  she 
whispered. 

"No,"  said  the  man.     "Where?" 

After  a  pause  the  girl  answered:  "I  can't  see 
it  now,  either.  Maybe  I  didn't  see  it.  It  was 
very  faint — just  a  glow — it  might  have  been  phos- 
phorescence." 

"It  might/'  said  the  man.  He  gave  a  shrug 
of  distaste.  "The  whole  place  is  certainly  old 
enough  and  decayed  enough." 

For  a  brief  space  they  stood  quite  still,  and  at 
once,  accentuated  by  their  own  silence,  the  noises 
of  the  night  grew  in  number  and  distinctness.  A 
slight  wind  had  risen  and  the  boughs  of  the  pines 
rocked  restlessly,  making  mournful  complaint; 
and  at  their  feet  the  needles  dropping  in  a  gentle 
desultory  shower  had  the  sound  of  rain  in  spring- 
time. From  every  side  they  were  startled  by 
noises  they  could  not  place.  Strange  movements 
and  rustlings  caused  them  to  peer  sharply  into 
the  shadows;  footsteps,  that  seemed  to  approach, 
and  then,  having  marked  them,  skulk  away; 
branches  of  bushes  that  suddenly  swept  together, 

50 


The  Scarlet  Car 

as  though  closing  behind  some  one  in  stealthy 
retreat.  Although  they  knew  that  in  the  deserted 
garden  they  were  alone,  they  felt  that  from  the 
shadows  they  were  being  spied  upon,  that  the 
darkness  of  the  place  was  peopled  by  malign  pres- 
ences. 

The  young  man  drew  a  cigar  from  his  case  and 
put  it  unlit  between  his  teeth. 

"  Cheerful,  isn't  it  ? "  he  growled.  "  These  dead 
leaves  make  it  damp  as  a  tomb.  If  I've  seen  one 
ghost,  I've  seen  a  dozen.  I  believe  we're  stand- 
ing in  the  Carey  family's  graveyard." 

"I  thought  you  were  brave,"  said  the  girl. 

"I  am,"  returned  the  young  man,  "very  brave. 
But  if  you  had  the  most  wonderful  girl  on  earth 
to  take  care  of  in  the  grounds  of  a  mad-house  at 
two  in  the  morning,  you'd  be  scared  too." 

He  was  abruptly  surprised  by  Miss  Forbes  lay- 
ing her  hand  firmly  upon  his  shoulder  and  turn- 
ing him  in  the  direction  of  the  house.  Her  face 
was  so  near  his  that  he  felt  the  uneven  fluttering 
of  her  breath  upon  his  cheek. 

"There  is  a  man,"  she  said,  "standing  behind 
that  tree." 

By  the  faint  light  of  the  stars  he  saw,  in  black 
silhouette,  a  shoulder  and  head  projecting  from 
beyond  the  trunk  of  a  huge  oak,  and  then  quickly 


The  Scarlet  Car 

withdrawn.  The  owner  of  the  head  and  shoulder 
was  on  the  side  of  the  tree  nearest  to  themselves, 
his  back  turned  to  them,  and  so  deeply  was  his 
attention  engaged  that  he  was  unconscious  of 
their  presence. 

"He  is  watching  the  house,"  said  the  girl. 
"Why  is  he  doing  that?" 

"I  think  it's  Fred,"  whispered  the  man.  "He's 
afraid  to  go  for  the  water.  That's  as  far  as  he's 
gone."  He  was  about  to  move  forward  when 
from  the  oak-tree  there  came  a  low  whistle.  The 
girl  and  the  man  stood  silent  and  motionless. 
But  they  knew  it  was  useless;  that  they  had  been 
overheard.  A  voice  spoke  cautiously. 

"That  you  ?"  it  asked. 

With  the  idea  only  of  gaining  time,  the  young 
man  responded  promptly  and  truthfully.  "Yes," 
he  whispered. 

"  Keep  to  the  right  of  the  house,"  commanded 
the  voice. 

The  young  man  seized  Miss  Forbes  by  the  wrist 
and  moving  to  the  right  drew  her  quickly  with 
him.  He  did  not  stop  until  they  had  turned  the 
corner  of  the  building  and  were  once  more  hid- 
den by  the  darkness. 

"The  plot  thickens,"  he  said.  "I  take  it  that 
that  fellow  is  a  keeper,  or  watchman.  He  spoke 

52 


The  Scarlet  Car 

as  though  it  were  natural  there  should  be  another 
man  in  the  grounds,  so  there's  probably  two  of 
them,  either  to  keep  Carey  in  or  to  keep  tres- 
passers out.  Now,  I  think  I'll  go  back  and  tell 
him  that  Jack  and  Jill  went  up  the  hill  to  fetch  a 
pail  of  water,  and  that  all  they  want  is  to  be  al- 
lowed to  get  the  water,  and  go/' 

"Why  should  a  watchman  hide  behind  a  tree  ?" 
asked  the  girl.  "And  why " 

She  ceased  abruptly  with  a  sharp  cry  of  fright. 
"What's  that?"  she  whispered. 

"What's  what  ?"  asked  the  young  man  startled. 
"What  did  you  hear?" 

"Over  there,"  stammered  the  girl.  "Some- 
thing— that — groaned." 

"Pretty  soon  this  will  get  on  my  nerves,"  said 
the  man.  He  ripped  open  his  great-coat  and 
reached  under  it.  "I've  been  stoned  twice,  when 
there  were  women  in  the  car,"  he  said,  apologeti- 
cally, "and  so  now  at  night  I  carry  a  gun."  He 
shifted  the  darkened  torch  to  his  left  hand,  and, 
moving  a  few  yards,  halted  to  listen.  The  girl, 
reluctant  to  be  left  alone,  followed  slowly.  As  he 
stood  immovable  there  came  from  the  leaves  just 
beyond  him  the  sound  of  a  feeble  struggle,  and  a 
strangled  groan.  The  man  bent  forward  and 
flashed  the  torch.  He  saw  stretched  rigid  on  the 

53 


The  Scarlet  Car 

ground  a  huge  wolf-hound.  Its  legs  were  twisted 
horribly,  the  lips  drawn  away  from  the  teeth,  the 
eyes  glazed  in  an  agony  of  pain.  The  man 
snapped  off  the  light.  "Keep  back!"  he  whis- 
pered to  the  girl.  He  took  her  by  the  arm  and 
ran  with  her  toward  the  gate. 

"Who  was  it?"  she  begged. 

"It  was  a  dog,"  he  answered.     "I  think " 

He  did  not  tell  her  what  he  thought. 

"I've  got  to  find  out  what  the  devil  has  hap- 
pened to  Fred!"  he  said.  "You  go  back  to  the 
car.  Send  your  brother  here  on  the  run.  Tell 
him  there's  going  to  be  a  rough-house.  You're 
not  afraid  to  go  ? " 

"No,"  said  the  girl. 

A  shadow  blacker  than  the  night  rose  suddenly 
before  them,  and  a  voice  asked  sternly  but  quietly: 
"What  are  you  doing  here  ?" 

The  young  man  lifted  his  arm  clear  of  the  girl, 
and  shoved  her  quickly  from  him.  In  his  hand 
she  felt  the  pressure  of  the  revolver. 

"Well,"  he  replied  truculently,  "and  what  are 
you  doing  here?" 

"  I  am  the  night  watchman,"  answered  the  voice. 
"Who  are  you?" 

It  struck  Miss  Forbes  if  the  watchman  knew 
that  one  of  the  trespassers  was  a  woman  he 

54 


The  Scarlet  Car 

would  be  at  once  reassured,  and  she  broke  in 
quickly: 

"We  have  lost  our  way/'  she  said  pleasantly. 
"We  came  here " 

She  found  herself  staring  blindly  down  a 
shaft  of  light.  For  an  instant  the  torch  held 
her,  and  then  from  her  swept  over  the  young 
man. 

"Drop  that  gun!"  cried  the  voice.  It  was  no 
longer  the  same  voice;  it  was  now  savage  and 
snarling.  For  answer  the  young  man  pressed 
the  torch  in  his  left  hand,  and,  held  in  the  two 
circles  of  light,  the  men  surveyed  each  other. 
The  new-comer  was  one  of  unusual  bulk  and 
height.  The  collar  of  his  overcoat  hid  his  mouth, 
and  his  derby  hat  was  drawn  down  over  his  fore- 
head, but  what  they  saw  showed  an  intelligent, 
strong  face,  although  for  the  moment  it  wore  a 
menacing  scowl.  The  young  man  dropped  his 
revolver  into  his  pocket. 

"My  automobile  ran  dry/'  he  said;  "we  came 
in  here  to  get  some  water.  My  chauffeur  is  back 
there  somewhere  with  a  couple  of  buckets.  This 
is  Mr.  Carey's  place,  isn't  it?" 

"Take  that  light  out  of  my  eyes!"  said  the 
watchman. 

"Take  your  light  out  of  my  eyes,"  returned  the 
55 


The  Scarlet  Car 

young  man.  "You  can  see  we're  not — we  don't 
mean  any  harm." 

The  two  lights  disappeared  simultaneously,  and 
then  each,  as  though  worked  by  the  same  hand, 
sprang  forth  again. 

"What  did  you  think  I  was  going  to  do?"  the 
young  man  asked.  He  laughed  and  switched  off 
his  torch. 

But  the  one  the  watchman  held  in  his  hand 
still  moved  from  the  face  of  the  girl  to  that  of  the 
young  man. 

"How'd  you  know  this  was  the  Carey  house?" 
he  demanded.  "Do  you  know  Mr.  Carey?" 

"No,  but  I  know  this  is  his  house." 

For  a  moment  from  behind  his  mask  of  light 
the  watchman  surveyed  them  in  silence.  Then 
he  spoke  quickly: 

"I'll  take  you  to  him,"  he  said,  "if  he  thinks 
it's  all  right,  it's  all  right." 

The  girl  gave  a  protesting  cry.  The  young 
man  burst  forth  indignantly: 

"You  will  not!"  he  cried.  "Don't  be  an  idiot! 
You  talk  like  a  Tenderloin  cop.  Do  we  look  like 
second-story  workers  ? " 

"I  found  you  prowling  around  Mr.  Carey's 
grounds  at  two  in  the  morning,"  said  the  watch- 
man sharply,  "with  a  gun  in  your  hand.  My 

56 


The  Scarlet  Car 

job  is  to  protect  this  place,  and  I  am  going  to 
take  you  both  to  Mr.  Carey." 

Until  this  moment  the  young  man  could  see 
nothing  save  the  shaft  of  light  and  the  tiny  glow- 
ing bulb  at  its  base;  now  into  the  light  there  pro- 
truded a  black  revolver. 

"  Keep  your  hands  up,  and  walk  ahead  of  me 
to  the  house,"  commanded  the  watchman.  "The 
woman  will  go  in  front." 

The  young  man  did  not  move.  Under  his 
breath  he  muttered  impotently,  and  bit  at  his 
lower  lip. 

"  See  here,"  he  said,  "  I'll  go  with  you,  but  you 
sha'n't  take  this  lady  in  front  of  that  madman. 
Let  her  go  to  her  car.  It's  only  a  hundred  yards 
from  here;  you  know  perfectly  well  she 

"I  know  where  your  car  is,  all  right,"  said  the 
watchman  steadily,  "and  I'm  not  going  to  let 
you  get  away  in  it  till  Mr.  Carey's  seen  you." 
The  revolver  motioned  forward.  Miss  Forbes 
stepped  in  front  of  it  and  appealed  eagerly  to  the 
young  man. 

"Do  what  he  says,"  she  urged.  "It's  only 
his  duty.  Please!  Indeed,  I  don't  mind."  She 
turned  to  the  watchman.  "Which  way  do  you 
want  us  to  go?"  she  asked. 

"  Keep  in  the  light,"  he  ordered. 
57 


The  Scarlet  Car 

The  light  showed  the  broad  steps  leading  to  the 
front  entrance  of  the  house,  and  in  its  shaft  they 
climbed  them,  pushed  open  the  unlocked  door, 
and  stood  in  a  small  hallway.  It  led  into  a  greater 
hall  beyond.  By  the  electric  lights  still  burning 
they  noted  that  the  interior  of  the  house  was  as 
rich  and  well  cared  for  as  the  outside  was  miser- 
able. With  a  gesture  for  silence  the  watchman 
motioned  them  into  a  small  room  on  the  right  of 
the  hallway.  It  had  the  look  of  an  office,  and  was 
apparently  the  place  in  which  were  conducted 
the  affairs  of  the  estate. 

In  an  open  grate  was  a  dying  fire;  in  front  of  it 
a  flat  desk  covered  with  papers  and  japanned  tin 
boxes. 

"You  stay  here  till  I  fetch  Mr.  Carey  and  the 
servants,"  commanded  the  watchman.  "Don't 
try  to  get  out,  and,"  he  added  menacingly,  "don't 
make  no  noise."  With  his  revolver  he  pointed 
at  the  two  windows.  They  were  heavily  barred. 
"Those  bars  keep  Mr.  Carey  in,"  he  said,  "and 
I  guess  they  can  keep  you  in,  too.  The  other 
watchman,"  he  added,  "will  be  just  outside  this 
door."  But  still  he  hesitated,  glowering  with 
suspicion;  unwilling  to  trust  them  alone.  His 
face  lit  with  an  ugly  smile. 

"Mr.  Carey's  very  bad  to-night,"  he  said;  "he 

58 


The  Scarlet  Car 

won't  keep  his  bed  and  he's  wandering  about 
the  house.  If  he  found  you  by  yourselves,  he 
might— 

The  young  man,  who  had  been  staring  at  the 
fire,  swung  sharply  on  his  heel. 

"  Get-to-hell-out-of-here ! "  he  said. 

The  watchman  stepped  into  the  hall  and  was 
cautiously  closing  the  door  when  a  man  sprang 
lightly  up  the  front  steps.  Through  the  inch  crack 
left  by  the  open  door  the  trespassers  heard  the 
new-comer's  eager  greeting. 

"I  can't  get  him  right!"  he  panted.  "He's 
snoring  like  a  hog." 

The  watchman  exclaimed  savagely: 

"He's  fooling  you."  He  gasped.  "I  didn't 
mor'  nor  slap  him.  Did  you  throw  water  on  him  ?" 

"I  drowned  him!"  returned  the  other.  "He 
never  winked.  I  tell  you  we  gotta  walk,  and 
damn  quick!" 

"Walk!"  The  watchman  cursed  him  foully. 
"  How  far  could  we  walk  ?  /'//  bring  him  to," 
he  swore.  "He's  scared  of  us,  and  he's  sham- 
ming." He  gave  a  sudden  start  of  alarm. 
"That's  it,  he's  shamming.  You  fool!  You 
shouldn't  have  left  him." 

There  was  the  swift  patter  of  retreating  foot- 
steps, and  then  a  sudden  halt,  and  they  heard  the 

59 


The  Scarlet  Car 

watchman  command:  "Go  back,  ana  keep  the 
other  two  till  I  come." 

The  next  instant  from  the  outside  the  door  was 
softly  closed  upon  them. 

It  had  no  more  than  shut  when  to  the  surprise 
of  Miss  Forbes  the  young  man,  with  a  delighted 
and  vindictive  chuckle,  sprang  to  the  desk  and 
began  to  drum  upon  it  with  his  fingers.  It  was 
as  though  he  were  practising  upon  a  type-writer. 

"He  missed  these"  he  muttered  jubilantly. 
The  girl  leaned  forward.  Beneath  his  fingers  she 
saw,  flush  with  the  table,  a  roll  of  little  ivory  but- 
tons. She  read  the  words  "Stables,"  "Servants' 
hall."  She  raised  a  pair  of  very  beautiful  and 
very  bewildered  eyes. 

"  But  if  he  wanted  the  servants,  why  didn't  the 
watchman  do  that?"  she  asked. 

"Because  he  isn't  a  watchman,"  answered  the 
young  man.  "Because  he's  robbing  this  house." 

He  took  the  revolver  from  his  encumbering 
great-coat,  slipped  it  in  his  pocket,  and  threw  the 
coat  from  him.  He  motioned  the  girl  into  a  cor- 
ner. "Keep  out  of  the  line  of  the  door,"  he 
ordered. 

"I  don't  understand,"  begged  the  girl. 

"They  came  in  a  car,"  whispered  the  young 
man.  "It's  broken  down,  and  they  can't  get 

60 


The  Scarlet  Car 

away.  When  the  big  fellow  stopped  us  and  I 
flashed  my  torch,  I  saw  their  car  behind  him  in 
the  road  with  the  front  off  and  the  lights  out. 
He'd  seen  the  lamps  of  our  car,  and  now  they 
want  it  to  escape  in.  That's  why  he  brought  us 
here — to  keep  us  away  from  our  car." 

"And  Fred!"  gasped  the  girl.     "Fred's  hurt!" 

"I  guess  Fred  stumbled  into  the  big  fellow,'* 
assented  the  young  man,  "and  the  big  fellow  put 
him  out;  then  he  saw  Fred  was  a  chauffeur,  and 
now  they  are  trying  to  bring  him  to,  so  that  he 
can  run  the  car  for  them.  You  needn't  worry 
about  Fred.  He's  been  in  four  smash-ups." 

The  young  man  bent  forward  to  listen,  but 
from  no  part  of  the  great  house  came  any  sign. 
He  exclaimed  angrily. 

"They  must  be  drugged,"  he  growled.  He  ran 
to  the  desk  and  made  vicious  jabs  at  the  ivory 
buttons. 

"Suppose  they're  out  of  order!"  he  whispered. 

There  was  the  sound  of  leaping  feet.  The 
young  man  laughed  nervously.  "No,  it's  all 
right,"  he  cried.  "They're  coming!" 

The  door  flung  open  and  the  big  burglar  and  a 
small,  rat-like  figure  of  a  man  burst  upon  them; 
the  big  one  pointing  a  revolver. 

"Come  with  me  to  your  car!"  he  commanded. 
61 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"You've  got  to  take  us  to  Boston.     Quick,  or  I'll 
blow  your  face  off." 

Although  the  young  man  glared  bravely  at  the 
steel  barrel  and  the  lifted  trigger,  poised  a  few 
inches  from  his  eyes,  his  body,  as  though  weak 
with  fright,  shifted  slightly  and  his  feet  made  a 
shuffling  noise  upon  the  floor.  When  the  weight 
of  his  body  was  balanced  on  the  ball  of  his  right 
foot,  the  shuffling  ceased.  Had  the  burglar  low- 
ered his  eyes,  the  manoeuvre  to  him  would  have 
been  significant,  but  his  eyes  were  following  the 
barrel  of  the  revolver. 

In  the  mind  of  the  young  man  the  one  thought 
uppermost  was  that  he  must  gain  time,  but,  with 
a  revolver  in  his  face,  he  found  his  desire  to  gain 
time  swiftly  diminishing.  Still,  when  he  spoke,  it 
was  with  deliberation. 

"My  chauffeur — "  he  began  slowly. 

The  burglar  snapped  at  him  like  a  dog.  "To 
hell  with  your  chauffeur!"  he  cried.  "Your 
chauffeur  has  run  away.  You'll  drive  that  car 
yourself,  or  I'll  leave  you  here  with  the  top  of 
your  head  off*." 

The  face  of  the  young  man  suddenly  flashed 
with  pleasure.  His  eyes,  looking  past  the  burglar 
to  the  door,  lit  with  relief. 

"There's  the  chauffeur  now!"  he  cried. 
62 


The  Scarlet  Car 

The  big  burglar  for  one  instant  glanced  over 
his  right  shoulder. 

For  months  at  a  time,  on  Soldiers'  Field,  the 
young  man  had  thrown  himself  at  human  targets, 
that  ran  and  dodged  and  evaded  him,  and  the 
hulking  burglar,  motionless  before  him,  was  easily 
his  victim. 

He  leaped  at  him,  his  left  arm  swinging  like  a 
scythe,  and,  with  the  impact  of  a  club,  the  blow 
caught  the  burglar  in  the  throat. 

The  pistol  went  off  impotently;  the  burglar  with 
a  choking  cough  sank  in  a  heap  on  the  floor. 

The  young  man  tramped  over  him  and  upon 
him,  and  beat  the  second  burglar  with  savage, 
whirlwind  blows.  The  second  burglar,  shrieking 
with  pain,  turned  to  fly,  and  a  fist,  that  fell  upon 
him  where  his  bump  of  honesty  should  have  been, 
drove  his  head  against  the  lintel  of  the  door. 

At  the  same  instant  from  the  belfry  on  the  roof 
there  rang  out  on  the  night  the  sudden  tumult  of 
a  bell;  a  bell  that  told  as  plainly  as  though  it 
clamored  with  a  human  tongue,  that  the  hand 
that  rang  it  was  driven  with  fear;  fear  of  fire,  fear 
of  thieves,  fear  of  a  madman  with  a  knife  in  his 
hand  running  amuck;  perhaps  at  that  moment 
creeping  up  the  belfry  stairs. 

From  all  over  the  house  there  was  the  rush  of 
63 


The  Scarlet  Car 

feet  and  men's  voices,  and  from  the  garden  the 
light  of  dancing  lanterns.  And  while  the  smoke 
of  the  revolver  still  hung  motionless,  the  open 
door  was  crowded  with  half-clad  figures.  At  their 
head  were  two  young  men.  One  who  had  drawn 
over  his  night-clothes  a  serge  suit,  and  who,  in 
even  that  garb,  carried  an  air  of  authority;  and 
one,  tall,  stooping,  weak  of  face  and  light-haired, 
with  eyes  that  blinked  and  trembled  behind  great 
spectacles,  and  who,  for  comfort,  hugged  about 
him  a  gorgeous  kimono.  For  an  instant  the 
new-comers  stared  stupidly  through  the  smoke  at 
the  bodies  on  the  floor  breathing  stertorously,  at 
the  young  man  with  the  lust  of  battle  still  in  his 
face,  at  the  girl  shrinking  against  the  wall.  It 
was  the  young  man  in  the  serge  suit  who  was  the 
first  to  move. 

"Who  are  you  ?"  he  demanded. 

"These  are  burglars,"  said  the  owner  of  the 
car.  "We  happened  to  be  passing  in  my  auto- 
mobile, and 

The  young  man  was  no  longer  listening.  With 
an  alert,  professional  manner  he  had  stooped  over 
the  big  burglar.  With  his  thumb  he  pushed  back 
the  man's  eyelids,  and  ran  his  fingers  over  his 
throat  and  chin.  He  felt  carefully  of  the  point  of 
the  chin,  and  glanced  up. 

64 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"You've  broken  the  bone/'  he  said. 

"I  just  swung  on  him/'  said  the  young  man. 
He  turned  his  eyes,  and  suggested  the  presence 
of  the  girl. 

At  the  same  moment  the  man  in  the  kimono 
cried  nervously:  "Ladies  present,  ladies  present. 
Go  put  your  clothes  on,  everybody;  put  your 
clothes  on." 

For  orders  the  men  in  the  doorway  looked  to 
the  young  man  with  the  stern  face. 

He  scowled  at  the  figure  in  the  kimono. 

"  You  will  please  go  to  your  room,  sir/'  he  said. 
He  stood  up,  and  bowed  to  Miss  Forbes.  "  I  beg 
your  pardon/'  he  asked,  "you  must  want  to  get 
out  of  this.  Will  you  please  go  into  the  library  ?'* 

He  turned  to  the  robust  youths  in  the  door,  and 
pointed  at  the  second  burglar. 

"Move  him  out  of  the  way,"  he  ordered. 

The  man  in  the  kimono  smirked  and  bowed. 

"Allow  me,"  he  said;  "allow  me  to  show  you 
to  the  library.  This  is  no  place  for  ladies." 

The  young  man  with  the  stern  face  frowned 
impatiently. 

"You  will  please  return  to  your  room,  sir,"  he 
repeated. 

With  an  attempt  at  dignity  the  figure  in  the 
kimono  gathered  the  silk  robe  closer  about  him. 

65 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"Certainly,"  he' said.  "If  you  think  you  can 
get  on  without  me — I  will  retire,"  and  lifting  his 
bare  feet  mincingly,  he  tiptoed  away.  Miss 
Forbes  looked  after  him  with  an  expression  of 
relief,  of  repulsion,  of  great  pity. 

The  owner  of  the  car  glanced  at  the  young 
man  with  the  stern  face,  and  raised  his  eyebrows 
interrogatively. 

The  young  man  had  taken  the  revolver  from 
the  limp  fingers  of  the  burglar  and  was  holding 
it  in  his  hand.  Winthrop  gave  what  was  half  a 
laugh  and  half  a  sigh  of  compassion. 

"So,  that's  Carey?"  he  said. 

There  was  a  sudden  silence.  The  young  man 
with  the  stern  face  made  no  answer.  His  head 
was  bent  over  the  revolver.  He  broke  it  open, 
and  spilled  the  cartridges  into  his  palm.  Still  he 
made  no  answer.  When  he  raised  his  head,  his 
eyes  were  no  longer  stern,  but  wistful,  and  filled 
with  an  inexpressible  loneliness. 

"No,  7  am  Carey,"  he  said. 

The  one  who  had  blundered  stood  helpless, 
tongue-tied,  with  no  presence  of  mind  beyond 
knowing  that  to  explain  would  offend  further. 

The  other  seemed  to  feel  for  him  more  than  for 
himself.  In  a  voice  low  and  peculiarly  appealing, 
he  continued  hurriedly. 

66 


You've  broken  the  bone,"  he  said 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"He  is  my  doctor,"  he  said.  "He  is  a  young 
man,  and  he  has  not  had  many  advantages — his 
manner  is  not — I  find  we  do  not  get  on  together. 
I  have  asked  them  to  send  me  some  one  else." 
He  stopped  suddenly,  and  stood  unhappily  silent. 
The  knowledge  that  the  strangers  were  acquainted 
with  his  story  seemed  to  rob  him  of  his  earlier 
confidence.  He  made  an  uncertain  movement  as 
though  to  relieve  them  of  his  presence. 

Miss  Forbes  stepped  toward  him  eagerly. 

"You  told  me  I  might  wait  in  the  library,"  she 
said.  "Will  you  take  me  there?" 

For  a  moment  the  man  did  not  move,  but  stood 
looking  at  the  young  and  beautiful  girl,  who,  with 
a  smile,  hid  the  compassion  in  her  eyes. 

"Will  you  go?"  he  asked  wistfully. 

"Why  not?"  said  the  girl. 

The  young  man  laughed  with  pleasure. 

"I  am  unpardonable,"  he  said.  "I  live  so 
much  alone — that  I  forget."  Like  one  who,  issu- 
ing from  a  close  room,  encounters  the  morning  air, 
he  drew  a  deep,  happy  breath.  "  It  has  been  three 
years  since  a  woman  has  been  in  this  house,"  he 
said  simply.  "And  I  have  not  even  thanked 
you,"  he  went  on,  "nor  asked  you  if  you  are  cold," 
he  cried  remorsefully,  "or  hungry.  How  nice  it 
would  be  if  you  would  say  you  are  hungry." 

67 


The  Scarlet  Car 

The  girl  walked  beside  him,  laughing  lightly, 
and,  as  they  disappeared  into  the  greater  hall 
beyond,  Winthrop  heard  her  cry:  "You  never 
robbed  your  own  ice-chest  ?  How  have  you  kept 
from  starving?  Show  me  it,  and  we'll  rob  it 
together." 

The  voice  of  their  host  rang  through  the  empty 
house  with  a  laugh  like  that  of  an  eager,  happy 
child. 

"Heavens!"  said  the  owner  of  the  car,  "isn't 
she  wonderful!"  But  neither  the  prostrate  bur- 
glars, nor  the  servants,  intent  on  strapping  their 
wrists  together,  gave  him  any  answer. 

As  they  were  finishing  the  supper  filched  from 
the  ice-chest,  Fred  was  brought  before  them  from 
the  kitchen.  The  blow  the  burglar  had  given 
him  was  covered  with  a  piece  of  cold  beefsteak, 
and  the  water  thrown  on  him  to  revive  him  was 
thawing  from  his  leather  breeches.  Mr.  Carey 
expressed  his  gratitude,  and  rewarded  him  beyond 
the  avaricious  dreams  even  of  a  chauffeur. 

As  the  three  trespassers  left  the  house,  accom- 
panied by  many  pails  of  water,  the  girl  turned  to 
the  lonely  figure  in  the  doorway  and  waved  her 
hand. 

"May  we  come  again?"  she  called. 

But  young  Mr.  Carey  did  not  trust  his  voice  to 
68 


The  Scarlet  Car 

answer.  Standing  erect,  with  folded  arms,  in 
dark  silhouette  in  the  light  of  the  hall,  he  bowed 
his  head. 

Deaf  to  alarm  bells,  to  pistol  shots,  to  cries  for 
help,  they  found  her  brother  and  Ernest  Peabody 
sleeping  soundly. 

"Sam  is  a  charming  chaperon,"  said  the  owner 
of  the  car. 

With  the  girl  beside  him,  with  Fred  crouched, 
shivering,  on  the  step,  he  threw  in  the  clutch;  the 
servants  from  the  house  waved  the  emptied  buck- 
ets in  salute,  and  the  great  car  sprang  forward 
into  the  awakening  day  toward  the  golden  dome 
over  the  Boston  Common.  In  the  rear  seat  Pea- 
body  shivered  and  yawned,  and  then  sat  erect. 

"Did  you  get  the  water?"  he  demanded, 
anxiously. 

There  was  a  grim  silence. 

"Yes,"  said  the  owner  of  the  car  patiently. 
"You  needn't  worry  any  longer.  We  got  the 


water." 


69 


Ill 

THE   KIDNAPPERS 

DURING  the  last  two  weeks  of  the  "whirl- 
wind" campaign,  automobiles  had  carried 
the  rival  candidates  to  every  election  district  in 
Greater  New  York. 

During  these  two  weeks,  at  the  disposal  of 
Ernest  Peabody — on  the  Reform  Ticket  "the 
people's  choice  for  Lieutenant-Governor"-— Win- 
throp  had  placed  his  Scarlet  Car,  and,  as  its 
chauffeur,  himself. 

Not  that  Winthrop  greatly  cared  for  Reform  or 
Ernest  Peabody.  The  "whirlwind"  part  of  the 
campaign  was  what  attracted  him;  the  crowds, 
the  bands,  the  fireworks,  the  rush  by  night  from 
hall  to  hall,  from  Fordham  to  Tompkinsville. 
And  while,  inside  the  different  Lyceums,  Pea- 
body  lashed  the  Tammany  Tiger,  outside,  in  his 
car,  Winthrop  was  making  friends  with  Tam- 
many policemen,  and  his  natural  enemies,  the 
bicycle  cops.  To  Winthrop,  the  day  in  which  he 

70 


The  Scarlet  Car 

did  not  increase  his  acquaintance  with  the  traffic 
squad  was  a  day  lost. 

But  the  real  reason  for  his  efforts  in  the  cause 
of  Reform  was  one  he  could  riot  declare.  And  it 
was  a  reason  that  was  guessed  perhaps  by  only 
one  person.  On  some  nights  Beatrice  Forbes  and 
her  brother  Sam  accompanied  Peabody.  And 
while  Peabody  sat  in  the  rear  of  the  car,  mum- 
bling the  speech  he  would  next  deliver,  Winthrop 
was  given  the  chance  to  talk  with  her.  These 
chances  were  growing  cruelly  few.  In  one  month 
after  election  day  Miss  Forbes  and  Peabody 
would  be  man  and  wife.  Once  before  the  day  of 
their  marriage  had  been  fixed,  but,  when  the 
Reform  Party  offered  Peabody  a  high  place  on 
its  ticket,  he  asked,  in  order  that  he  might  bear 
his  part  in  the  cause  of  reform,  that  the  wedding 
be  postponed.  To  the  postponement  Miss  Forbes 
made  no  objection.  To  one  less  self-centred  than 
Peabody,  it  might  have  appeared  that  she  almost 
too  readily  consented. 

"I  knew  I  could  count  upon  your  seeing  my 
duty  as  I  saw  it/'  said  Peabody,  much  pleased; 
"it  always  will  be  a  satisfaction  to  both  of  us  to 
remember  you  never  stood  between  me  and  my 
work  for  reform." 

"What  do  you  think  my  brother-in-law-to-be 


The  Scarlet  Car 

has  done  now?"  demanded  Sam  of  Winthrop, 
as  the  Scarlet  Car  swept  into  Jerome  Avenue. 
"He's  postponed  his  marriage  with  Trix  just 
because  he  has  a  chance  to  be  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor.  What  is  a  Lieutenant-Governor  anyway, 
do  you  know  ?  I  don't  like  to  ask  Peabody." 

"It's  not  his  own  election  he's  working  for," 
said  Winthrop.  He  was  conscious  of  an  effort  to 
assume  a  point  of  view  both  noble  and  magnani- 
mous. "He  probably  feels  the  'cause'  calls  him. 
But,  good  Heavens!" 

"Look  out!"  shrieked  Sam;  "where  are  you 
going?" 

Winthrop  swung  the  car  back  into  the  avenue. 

"To  think,"  he  cried,  "that  a  man  who  could 
marry — a  girl,  and  then  would  ask  her  to  wait 
two  months.  Or  two  days!  Two  months  lost 
out  of  his  life,  and  she  might  die;  he  might  lose 
her;  she  might  change  her  mind.  Any  number  of 
men  can  be  Lieutenant-Governors;  only  one  man 
can  be- 

He  broke  off  suddenly,  coughed,  and  fixed  his 
eyes  miserably  on  the  road.  After  a  brief  pause, 
Brother  Sam  covertly  looked  at  him.  Could  it 
be  that  "Billie"  Winthrop,  the  man  liked  of  all 
men,  should  love  his  sister,  and  that  she  should 
prefer  Ernest  Peabody  ?  He  was  deeply,  loyally 

72 


The  Scarlet  Car 

indignant.  He  determined  to  demand  of  his  sis- 
ter an  immediate  and  abject  apology. 

At  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  election  day, 
Peabody,  in  the  Scarlet  Car,  was  on  his  way  to 
vote.  He  lived  at  Riverside  Drive,  and  the  poll- 
ing-booth was  only  a  few  blocks  distant.  Dur- 
ing the  rest  of  the  day  he  intended  to  use  the  car 
to  visit  other  election  districts,  and  to  keep  him 
in  touch  with  the  Reformers  at  the  Gilsey  House. 
Winthrop  was  acting  as  his  chauffeur,  and  in  the 
rear  seat  was  Miss  Forbes.  Peabody  had  asked 
her  to  accompany  him  to  the  polling-booth,  be- 
cause he  thought  women  who  believed  in  reform 
should  show  their  interest  in  it  in  public,  before 
all  men.  Miss  Forbes  disagreed  with  him,  chiefly 
because  whenever  she  sat  in  a  box  at  any  of  the 
public  meetings  the  artists  from  the  newspapers, 
instead  of  immortalizing  the  candidate,  made  pict- 
ures of  her  and  her  hat.  After  she  had  seen  her 
future  lord  and  master  cast  his  vote  for  reform 
and  himself,  she  was  to  depart  by  train  to  Tarry- 
town.  The  Forbes's  country  place  was  there, 
and  for  election  day  her  brother  Sam  had  invited 
out  some  of  his  friends  to  play  tennis. 

As  the  car  darted  and  dodged  up  Eighth  Ave- 
nue, a  man  who  had  been  hidden  by  the  stairs 
to  the  Elevated,  stepped  in  front  of  it.  It  caught 

73 


The  Scarlet  Car 

him,  and  hurled  him,  like  a  mail-bag  tossed  from 
a  train,  against  one  of  the  pillars  that  support  the 
overhead  tracks.  Winthrop  gave  a  cry  and  fell 
upon  the  brakes.  The  cry  was  as  full  of  pain 
as  though  he  himself  had  been  mangled.  Miss 
Forbes  saw  only  the  man  appear,  and  then  dis- 
appear, but  Winthrop's  shout  of  warning,  and 
the  wrench  as  the  brakes  locked,  told  her  what 
had  happened.  She  shut  her  eyes,  and  for  an 
instant  covered  them  with  her  hands.  On  the 
front  seat  Peabody  clutched  helplessly  at  the 
cushions.  In  horror  his  eyes  were  fastened  on 
the  motionless  mass  jammed  against  the  pillar. 
Winthrop  scrambled  over  him,  and  ran  to  where 
the  man  lay.  So,  apparently,  did  every  other 
inhabitant  of  Eighth  Avenue;  but  Winthrop  was 
the  first  to  reach  him,  and  kneeling  in  the  car 
tracks,  he  tried  to  place  the  head  and  shoulders  of 
the  body  against  the  iron  pillar.  He  had  seen 
very  few  dead  men;  and  to  him,  this  weight  in  his 
arms,  this  bundle  of  limp  flesh  and  muddy  clothes, 
and  the  purple-bloated  face  with  blood  trickling 
down  it,  looked  like  a  dead  man. 

Once  or  twice  when  in  his  car  Death  had 
reached  for  Winthrop,  and  only  by  the  scantiest 
grace  had  he  escaped.  Then  the  nearness  of  it 
had  only  sobered  him.  Now  that  he  believed  he 

74 


The  Scarlet  Car 

had  brought  it  to  a  fellow  man,  even  though  he 
knew  he  was  in  no  degree  to  blame,  the  thought 
sickened  and  shocked  him.  His  brain  trembled 
with  remorse  and  horror. 

But  voices  assailing  him  on  every  side  brought 
him  to  the  necessity  of  the  moment.  Men  were 
pressing  close  upon  him,  jostling,  abusing  him,  shak- 
ing fists  in  his  face.  Another  crowd  of  men,  as 
though  fearing  the  car  would  escape  of  its  own  voli- 
tion, were  clinging  to  the  steps  and  running  boards. 

Winthrop  saw  Miss  Forbes  standing  above  them, 
talking  eagerly  to  Peabody,  and  pointing  at  him. 
He  heard  children's  shrill  voices  calling  to  new  ar- 
rivals that  an  automobile  had  killed  a  man;  that 
it  had  killed  him  on  purpose.  On  the  outer  edge 
of  the  crowd  men  shouted:  "Ah,  soak  him!" 
"Kill  him!"  "Lynch  him!" 

A  soiled  giant  without  a  collar  stooped  over  the 
purple,  blood-stained  face,  and  then  leaped  up- 
right, and  shouted:  "It's  Jerry  Gaylor,  he's  killed 
old  man  Gaylor." 

The  response  was  instant.  Every  one  seemed 
to  know  Jerry  Gaylor. 

Winthrop  took  the  soiled  person  by  the  arm. 

"You  help  me  lift  him  into  my  car,"  he  ordered. 
"Take  him  by  the  shoulders.  We  must  get  him 
to  a  hospital." 

75 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"To  a  hospital?  To  the  Morgue!"  roared  the 
man.  "And  the  police  station  for  yours.  You 
don't  do  no  get-away." 

Winthrop  answered  him  by  turning  to  the 
crowd.  "If  this  man  has  any  friends  here,  they'll 
please  help  me  put  him  in  my  car,  and  we'll  take 
him  to  Roosevelt  Hospital." 

The  soiled  person  shoved  a  fist  and  a  bad  cigar 
under  Winthrop's  nose. 

"Has  he  got  any  friends  ?"  he  mocked.  "Sure, 
he's  got  friends,  and  they'll  fix  you,  all  right." 

"Sure!"  echoed  the  crowd. 

The  man  was  encouraged. 

"Don't  you  go  away  thinking  you  can  come  up 
here  with  your  buzz  wagon  and  murder  better 
men  nor  you'll  ever  be  and " 

"Oh,  shut  up!"  said  Winthrop. 

He  turned  his  back  on  the  soiled  man,  and 
again  appealed  to  the  crowd. 

"Don't  stand  there  doing  nothing,"  he  com- 
manded. "Do  you  want  this  man  to  die  ?  Some 
of  you  ring  for  an  ambulance  and  get  a  policeman, 
or  tell  me  where  is  the  nearest  drug  store." 

No  one  moved,  but  every  one  shouted  to  every 
one  else  to  do  as  Winthrop  suggested. 

Winthrop  felt  something  pulling  at  his  sleeve, 
and  turning,  found  Peabody  at  his  shoulder,  peer- 

76 


The  Scarlet  Car 

ing  fearfully  at  the  figure  in  the  street.  He  had 
drawn  his  cap  over  his  eyes  and  hidden  the  lower 
part  of  his  face  in  the  high  collar  of  his  motor 
coat. 

"I  can't  do  anything,  can  I  ?"  he  asked. 

"I'm  afraid  not,"  whispered  Winthrop.  "Go 
back  to  the  car  and  don't  leave  Beatrice.  I'll 
attend  to  this." 

" That's  what  I  thought,"  whispered  Peabody 
eagerly.  "I  thought  she  and  I  had  better  keep 
out  of  it." 

"  Right ! "  exclaimed  Winthrop.  "  Go  back  and 
get  Beatrice  away." 

Peabody  looked  his  relief,  but  still  hesitated. 

"I  can't  do  anything,  as  you  say,"  he  stam- 
mered, "and  it's  sure  to  get  in  the  'extras,'  and 
they'll  be  out  in  time  to  lose  us  thousands  of 
votes,  and  though  no  one  is  to  blame,  they're 
sure  to  blame  me.  I  don't  care  about  myself," 
he  added  eagerly,  "but  the  very  morning  of  elec- 
tion— half  the  city  has  not  voted  yet — the 
Ticket " 

"Damn  the  Ticket!"  exclaimed  Winthrop. 
"The  man's  dead!" 

Peabody,  burying  his  face  still  deeper  in  his 
collar,  backed  into  the  crowd.  In  the  present 
and  past  campaigns,  from  carts  and  automobiles 

77 


The  Scarlet  Car 

he  had  made  many  speeches  in  Harlem,  and  on 
the  West  Side  lithographs  of  his  stern,  resolute 
features  hung  in  every  delicatessen  shop,  and 
that  he  might  be  recognized  was  extremely  likely. 

He  whispered  to  Miss  Forbes  what  he  had  said, 
and  what  Winthrop  had  said. 

"But  you  don't  mean  to  leave  him,"  remarked 
Miss  Forbes. 

"  I  must,"  returned  Peabody.  "  I  can  do  noth- 
ing for  the  man,  and  you  know  how  Tammany 
will  use  this.  They'll  have  it  on  the  street  by 
ten.  They'll  say  I  was  driving  recklessly;  with- 
out regard  for  human  life.  And,  besides,  they're 
waiting  for  me  at  head-quarters.  Please  hurry. 
I  am  late  now." 

Miss  Forbes  gave  an  exclamation  of  surprise. 

"Why,  I'm  not  going,"  she  said. 

"You  must  go!  7  must  go.  You  can't  re- 
main here  alone." 

Peabody  spoke  in  the  quick,  assured  tone  that 
at  the  first  had  convinced  Miss  Forbes  his  was  a 
most  masterful  manner. 

"Winthrop,  too,"  he  added,  "wants  you  to  go 
away." 

Miss  Forbes  made  no  reply.  But  she  looked 
at  Peabody  inquiringly,  steadily,  as  though  she 
were  puzzled  as  to  his  identity,  as  though  he  had 

78 


The  Scarlet  Car 

just  been  introduced  to  her.     It  made  him  un- 
comfortable. 

"Are  you  coming?"  he  asked. 

Her  answer  was  a  question. 

"Are  you  going?" 

"I  am!"  returned  Peabody.  He  added  sharply: 
"I  must." 

"Good-by,"  said  Miss  Forbes. 

As  he  ran  up  the  steps  to  the  station  of  the 
Elevated,  it  seemed  to  Peabody  that  the  tone  of 
her  "good-by"  had  been  most  unpleasant.  It 
was  severe,  disapproving.  It  had  a  final,  fateful 
sound.  He  was  conscious  of  a  feeling  of  self- 
dissatisfaction.  In  not  seeing  the  political  im- 
portance of  his  not  being  mixed  up  with  this  acci- 
dent, Winthrop  had  been  peculiarly  obtuse,  and 
Beatrice,  unsympathetic. 

Until  he  had  cast  his  vote  for  Reform,  he  felt 
distinctly  ill-used. 

For  a  moment  Beatrice  Forbes  sat  in  the  car 
motionless,  staring  unseeingly  at  the  iron  steps  by 
which  Peabody  had  disappeared.  For  a  few 
moments  her  brows  were  tightly  drawn.  Then, 
having  apparently  quickly  arrived  at  some  con- 
clusion, she  opened  the  door  of  the  car  and  pushed 
into  the  crowd. 

Winthrop  received  her  most  rudely. 
79 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"You  mustn't  come  here!"  he  cried. 

"I  thought/'  she  stammered,  "you  might  want 
some  one  ? " 

"I  told — "  began  Winthrop,  and  then  stopped, 
and  added — "to  take  you  away.  Where  is  he?" 

Miss  Forbes  flushed  slightly. 

"He's  gone,"  she  said. 

In  trying  not  to  look  at  Winthrop,  she  saw  the 
fallen  figure,  motionless  against  the  pillar,  and 
with  an  exclamation,  bent  fearfully  toward  it. 

"Can  I  do  anything?"  she  asked. 

The  crowd  gave  way  for  her,  and  with  curious 
pleased  faces,  closed  in  again  eagerly.  She  af- 
forded them  a  new  interest. 

A  young  man  in  the  uniform  of  an  ambulance 
surgeon  was  kneeling  beside  the  mud-stained 
figure,  and  a  police  officer  was  standing  over  both. 
The  ambulance  surgeon  touched  lightly  the  mat- 
ted hair  from  which  the  blood  escaped,  stuck  his 
finger  in  the  eye  of  the  prostrate  man,  and  then 
with  his  open  hand  slapped  him  across  the  face. 

"Oh!"  gasped  Miss  Forbes. 

The  young  doctor  heard  her,  and  looking  up, 
scowled  reprovingly.  Seeing  she  was  a  rarely 
beautiful  young  woman,  he  scowled  less  severely; 
and  then  deliberately  and  expertly,  again  slapped 
Mr.  Jerry  Gaylor  on  the  cheek.  He  watched  the 

80 


The  Scarlet  Car 

white  mark  made  by  his  hand  upon  the  purple 
skin,  until  the  blood  struggled  slowly  back  to  it, 
and  then  rose. 

He  ignored  every  one  but  the  police  officer. 

"There's  nothing  the  matter  with  him"  he 
said.  "He's  dead  drunk." 

The  words  came  to  Winthrop  with  such  abrupt 
relief,  bearing  so  tremendous  a  burden  of  grati- 
tude, that  his  heart  seemed  to  fail  him.  In  his 
suddenly  regained  happiness,  he  unconsciously 
laughed. 

"Are  you  sure  ?"  he  asked  eagerly.  "I  thought 
I'd  killed  him." 

The  surgeon  looked  at  Winthrop  coldly. 

"When  they're  like  that,"  he  explained  with 
authority,  "you  can't  hurt  'em  if  you  throw  them 
off  The  Times  Building." 

He  condescended  to  recognize  the  crowd. 
"You  know  where  this  man  lives?" 

Voices  answered  that  Mr.  Gaylor  lived  at  the 
corner,  over  the  saloon.  The  voices  showed  a 
lack  of  sympathy.  Old  man  Gaylor  dead  was  a 
novelty;  old  man  Gaylor  drunk  was  not. 

The  doctor's  prescription  was  simple  and  direct. 

"Put  him  to  bed  till  he  sleeps  it  off,"  he  ordered; 
he  swung  himself  to  the  step  of  the  ambulance. 
"Let  him  out,  Steve,"  he  called.  There  was 

81 


The  Scarlet  Car 

the  clang  of  a  gong  and  the  rattle  of  galloping 
hoofs. 

The  police  officer  approached  Winthrop. 
"They  tell  me  Jerry  stepped  in  front  of  your  car; 
that  you  wasn't  to  blame.  I'll  get  their  names 
and  where  they  live.  Jerry  might  try  to  hold  you 
up  for  damages." 

"Thank  you  very  much,"  said  Winthrop. 

With  several  of  Jerry's  friends,  and  the  soiled 
person,  who  now  seemed  dissatisfied  that  Jerry 
was  alive,  Winthrop  helped  to  carry  him  up  one 
flight  of  stairs  and  drop  him  upon  a  bed. 

"In  case  he  needs  anything,"  said  Winthrop, 
and  gave  several  bills  to  the  soiled  person,  upon 
whom  immediately  Gaylor's  other  friends  closed 
in.  "And  I'll  send  my  own  doctor  at  once  to 
attend  to  him." 

"You'd  better,"  said  the  soiled  person  mo- 
rosely, "or  he'll  try  to  shake  you  down." 

The  opinions  as  to  what  might  be  Mr.  Gaylor's 
next  move  seemed  unanimous. 

From  the  saloon  below,  Winthrop  telephoned 
to  the  family  doctor,  and  then  rejoined  Miss 
Forbes  and  the  police  officer.  The  officer  gave 
him  the  names  of  those  citizens  who  had  witnessed 
the  accident,  and  in  return  received  Winthrop's 
card. 

82 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"Not  that  it  will  go  any  further,"  said  the 
officer  reassuringly.  "  They' re  all  saying  you 
acted  all  right  and  wanted  to  take  him  to  Roose- 
velt. There's  many,"  he  added  with  sententious 
indignation,  "that  knock  a  man  down,  and  then 
run  away  without  waiting  to  find  out  if  they've 
hurted  'em  or  killed  'em." 

The  speech  for  both  Winthrop  and  Miss  Forbes 
was  equally  embarrassing. 

"You  don't  say?"  exclaimed  Winthrop  ner- 
vously. He  shook  the  policeman's  hand.  The 
handclasp  was  apparently  satisfactory  to  that 
official,  for  he  murmured  "Thank  you,"  and 
stuck  something  in  the  lining  of  his  helmet. 
"Now,  then!"  Winthrop  said  briskly  to  Miss 
Forbes,  "I  think  we  have  done  all  we  can.  And 
we'll  get  away  from  this  place  a  little  faster  than 
the  law  allows." 

Miss  Forbes  had  seated  herself  in  the  car,  and 
Winthrop  was  cranking  up,  when  the  same  police- 
man, wearing  an  anxious  countenance,  touched 
him  on  the  arm.  "There  is  a  gentleman  here," 
he  said,  "wants  to  speak  to  you."  He  placed 
himself  between  the  gentleman  and  Winthrop  and 
whispered:  "He's  'Izzy'  Schwab,  he's  a  Harlem 
police-court  lawyer  and  a  Tammany  man.  He's 
after  something,  look  out  for  him." 

83 


The  Scarlet  Car 

Winthrop  saw,  smiling  at  him  ingratiatingly,  a 
slight,  slim  youth,  with  beady,  rat-like  eyes,  a 
low  forehead,  and  a  Hebraic  nose.  He  won- 
dered how  it  had  been  possible  for  Jerry  Gaylor 
to  so  quickly  secure  counsel.  But  Mr.  Schwab 
at  once  undeceived  him. 

"I'm  from  The  Journal"  he  began,  "not  regu- 
lar on  the  staff,  but  I  send  'em  Harlem  items, 
and  the  court  reporter  treats  me  nice,  see!  Now 
about  this  accident;  could  you  give  me  the  name 
of  the  young  lady  ? " 

He  smiled  encouragingly  at  Miss  Forbes. 

"I  could  not!"  growled  Winthrop.  "The  man 
wasn't  hurt,  the  policeman  will  tell  you  so.  It  is 
not  of  the  least  public  interest." 

With  a  deprecatory  shrug,  the  young  man 
smiled  knowingly. 

"Well,  mebbe  not  the  lady's  name,"  he  granted, 
"but  the  name  of  the  other  gentleman  who  was 
with  you,  when  the  accident  occurred."  His 
black,  rat-like  eyes  snapped.  "I  think  A/V.name 
would  be  of  public  interest." 

To  gain  time  Winthrop  stepped  into  the  driver's 
seat.  He  looked  at  Mr.  Schwab  steadily. 

"There  was  no  other  gentleman,"  he  said. 
"Do  you  mean  my  chauffeur?"  Mr.  Schwab 
gave  an  appreciative  chuckle. 

84 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"No,  I  don't  mean  your  chauffeur/'  he  mim- 
icked. "I  mean,"  he  declared  theatrically  in 
his  best  police-court  manner,  "the  man  who 
to-day  is  hoping  to  beat  Tammany,  Ernest  Pea- 
body  !" 

Winthrop  stared  at  the  youth  insolently. 

"I  don't  understand  you,"  he  said. 

"Oh,  of  course  not!"  jeered  "Izzy"  Schwab. 
He  moved  excitedly  from  foot  to  foot.  "Then 
who  was  the  other  man,"  he  demanded,  "the 
man  who  ran  away  ? " 

Winthrop  felt  the  blood  rise  to  his  face.  That 
Miss  Forbes  should  hear  this  rat  of  a  man  sneer- 
ing at  the  one  she  was  to  marry,  made  him  hate 
Peabody.  But  he  answered  easily: 

"No  one  ran  away.  I  told  my  chauffeur  to  go 
and  call  up  an  ambulance.  That  was  the  man 
you  saw." 

As  when  "leading  on"  a  witness  to  commit 
himself,  Mr.  Schwab  smiled  sympathetically. 

"And  he  hasn't  got  back  yet,"  he  purred,  "has 
he?" 

"No,  and  I'm  not  going  to  wait  for  him,"  re- 
turned Winthrop.  He  reached  for  the  clutch,  but 
Mr.  Schwab  jumped  directly  in  front  of  the  car. 

"Was  he  looking  for  a  telephone  when  he  ran 
up  the  Elevated  steps  ? "  he  cried. 

85 


The  Scarlet  Car 

He  shook  his  fists  vehemently. 

"Oh,  no,  Mr.  Winthrop,  it  won't  do — you 
make  a  good  witness.  I  wouldn't  ask  for  no  bet- 
ter, but,  you  don't  fool  'Izzy'  Schwab." 

"You're  mistaken,  I  tell  you,"  cried  Winthrop 
desperately.  "He  may  look  like — like  this  man 
you  speak  of,  but  no  Peabody  was  in  this 


car." 


"Izzy"  Schwab  wrung  his  hands  hysterically. 

"No,  he  wasn't!"  he  cried,  "because  he  run 
away!  And  left  an  old  man  in  the  street — dead, 
for  all  he  knowed — nor  cared  neither.  Yah!" 
shrieked  the  Tammany  heeler.  "Him  a  Re- 
former, yah!" 

"Stand  away  from  my  car,"  shouted  Winthrop, 
"or  you'll  get  hurt." 

"Yah,  you'd  like  to,  wouldn't  you?"  returned 
Mr.  Schwab,  leaping  nimbly  to  one  side.  "What 
do  you  think  The  Journal  '11  give  me  for  that 
story,  hey  ?  'Ernest  Peabody,  the  Reformer,  Kills 
an  Old  Man,  AND  RUNS  AWAY.'  And  hiding 
his  face,  too!  I  seen  him.  What  do  you  think 
that  story's  worth  to  Tammany,  hey  ?  It's  worth 
twenty  thousand  votes!"  The  young  man  danced 
in  front  of  the  car  triumphantly,  mockingly,  in  a 
frenzy  of  malice.  "Read  the  extras,  that's  all," 
he  taunted.  "Read  'em  in  an  hour  from  now!" 

86 


The  Scarlet  Car 

Winthrop  glared  at  the  shrieking  figure  with 
fierce,  impotent  rage;  then,  with  a  look  of  disgust, 
he  flung  the  robe  off  his  knees  and  rose.  Mr. 
Schwab,  fearing  bodily  injury,  backed  precipi- 
tately behind  the  policeman. 

"Come  here,"  commanded  Winthrop  softly. 
Mr.  Schwab  warily  approached.  "That  story," 
said  Winthrop,  dropping  his  voice  to  a  low  whis- 
per, "is  worth  a  damn  sight  more  to  you  than 
twenty  thousand  votes.  You  take  a  spin  with  me 
up  Riverside  Drive  where  we  can  talk.  Maybe 
you  and  I  can  'make  a  little  business.' ' 

At  the  words,  the  face  of  Mr.  Schwab  first 
darkened  angrily,  and  then  lit  with  such  exulta- 
tion that  it  appeared  as  though  Winthrop' s  efforts 
had  only  placed  Peabody  deeper  in  Mr.  Schwab's 
power.  But  the  rat-like  eyes  wavered,  there  was 
doubt  in  them,  and  greed,  and,  when  they  turned 
to  observe  if  any  one  could  have  heard  the  offer, 
Winthrop  felt  the  trick  was  his.  It  was  apparent 
that  Mr.  Schwab  was  willing  to  arbitrate. 

He  stepped  gingerly  into  the  front  seat,  and  as 
Winthrop  leaned  over  him  and  tucked  and  buck- 
led the  fur  robe  around  his  knees,  he  could  not 
resist  a  glance  at  his  friends  on  the  sidewalk. 
They  were  grinning  with  wonder  and  envy,  and 
as  the  great  car  shook  itself,  and  ran  easily  for- 

87 


The  Scarlet  Car 

ward,  Mr.  Schwab  leaned  back  and  carelessly 
waved  his  hand.  But  his  mind  did  not  waver 
from  the  purpose  of  his  ride.  He  was  not  one  to 
be  cajoled  with  fur  rugs  and  glittering  brass. 

"Well,  Mr.  Winthrop,"  he  began  briskly. 
"You  want  to  say  something?  You  must  be 
quick — every  minute's  money." 

"Wait  till  we're  out  of  the  traffic,"  begged  Win- 
throp anxiously,  "I  don't  want  to  run  down  any 
more  old  men,  and  I  wouldn't  for  the  world  have 
anything  happen  to  you,  Mr. — "  He  paused 
politely. 

"Schwab — Isadore  Schwab." 

"How  did  you  know  my  name?"  asked  Win- 
throp. 

"The  card  you  gave  the  police  officer." 

"I  see,"  said  Winthrop.  They  were  silent 
while  the  car  swept  swiftly  west,  and  Mr.  Schwab 
kept  thinking  that  for  a  young  man  who  was 
afraid  of  the  traffic,  Winthrop  was  dodging  the 
motor  cars,  beer  vans,  and  iron  pillars,  with  a 
dexterity  that  was  criminally  reckless. 

At  that  hour  Riverside  Drive  was  empty,  and 
after  a  gasp  of  relief,  Mr.  Schwab  resumed  the 
attack. 

"Now,  then,"  he  said  sharply,  "don't  go  any 
further.  What  is  this  you  want  to  talk  about?" 

88 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"How  much  will  The  Journal  give  you  for  this 
story  of  yours  ? "  asked  Winthrop. 

Mr.  Schwab  smiled  mysteriously. 

"Why?"  he  asked. 

"Because,"  said  Winthrop,  "I  think  I  could 
offer  you  something  better." 

"You  mean,"  said  the  police-court  lawyer 
cautiously,  "you  will  make  it  worth  my  while  not 
to  tell  the  truth  about  what  I  saw?" 

"Exactly,"  said  Winthrop. 

"That's  all!  Stop  the  car,"  cried  Mr.  Schwab. 
His  manner  was  commanding.  It  vibrated  with 
triumph.  His  eyes  glistened  with  wicked  satis- 
faction. 

"Stop  the  car?"  demanded  Winthrop,  "what 
do  you  mean  ? " 

"I  mean,"  said  Mr.  Schwab  dramatically, 
"that  I've  got  you  where  I  want  you,  thank  you. 
You  have  killed  Peabody  dead  as  a  cigar  butt! 
Now  I  can  tell  them  how  his  friends  tried  to  bribe 
me.  Why  do  you  think  I  came  in  your  car  ?  For 
what  money  you  got?  Do  you  think  you  can 
stack  up  your  roll  against  the  New  York  Journal's, 
or  against  Tammany's?"  His  shrill  voice  rose 
exultantly.  "Why,  Tammany  ought  to  make  me 
judge  for  this!  Now,  let  me  down  here,"  he 
commanded,  "and  next  time,  don't  think  you 

89 


The  Scarlet  Car 

can  take  on  'Izzy'  Schwab  and  get  away  with 
it." 

They  were  passing  Grant's  Tomb,  and  the  car 
was  moving  at  a  speed  that  Mr.  Schwab  recog- 
nized was  in  excess  of  the  speed  limit. 

"Do  you  hear  me?"  he  demanded,  "let  me 
down!" 

To  his  dismay  Winthrop's  answer  was  in  some 
fashion  to  so  juggle  with  the  shining  brass  rods 
that  the  car  flew  into  greater  speed.  To  "Izzy" 
Schwab  it  seemed  to  scorn  the  earth,  to  proceed 
by  leaps  and  jumps.  But,  what  added  even 
more  to  his  mental  discomfiture  was,  that  Win- 
throp  should  turn,  and  slowly  and  familiarly  wink 
at  him. 

As  through  the  window  of  an  express  train,  Mr. 
Schwab  saw  the  white  front  of  Claremont,  and 
beyond  it  the  broad  sweep  of  the  Hudson.  And 
then,  without  decreasing  its  speed,  the  car  like  a 
great  bird  swept  down  a  hill,  shot  under  a  bridge, 
and  into  a  partly  paved  street.  Mr.  Schwab 
already  was  two  miles  from  his  own  bailiwick. 
His  surroundings  were  unfamiliar.  On  the  one 
hand  were  newly  erected,  untenanted  flat  houses 
with  the  paint  still  on  the  window  panes,  and  on 
the  other  side,  detached  villas,  a  roadhouse,  an 
orphan  asylum,  a  glimpse  of  the  Hudson. 

90 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"Let  me  out,"  yelled  Mr.  Schwab,  "what  you 
trying  to  do  ?  Do  you  think  a  few  blocks'll  make 
any  difference  to  a  telephone  ?  You  think  you're 
damned  smart,  don't  you  ?  But  you  won't  feel  so 
fresh  when  I  get  on  the  long  distance.  You  let 
me  down,"  he  threatened,  "or,  I'll " 

With  a  sickening  skidding  of  wheels,  Winthrop 
whirled  the  car  round  a  corner  and  into  the 
Lafayette  Boulevard,  that  for  miles  runs  along 
the  cliff  of  the  Hudson. 

"Yes,"  asked  Winthrop,  "what  will  you  do?" 

On  one  side  was  a  high  steep  bank,  on  the 
other  many  trees,  and  through  them  below,  the 
river.  But  there  were  no  houses,  and  at  half- 
past  eight  in  the  morning  those  who  later  drive 
upon  the  boulevard  were  still  in  bed. 

"What  will  you  do?"  repeated  Winthrop. 

Miss  Forbes,  apparently  as  much  interested  in 
Mr.  Schwab's  answer  as  Winthrop,  leaned  for- 
ward. Winthrop  raised  his  voice  above  the  whir 
of  flying  wheels,  the  rushing  wind,  and  scattering 
pebbles. 

"I  asked  you  into  this  car,"  he  shouted,  "be- 
cause I  meant  to  keep  you  in  it  until  I  had  you 
where  you  couldn't  do  any  mischief.  I  told  you 
I'd  give  you  something  better  than  The  Journal 
would  give  you,  and  I  am  going  to  give  you  a 

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The  Scarlet  Car 

happy  day  in  the  country.  We're  now  on  our 
way  to  this  lady's  house.  You  are  my  guest,  and 
you  can  play  golf,  and  bridge,  and  the  piano,  and 
eat  and  drink  until  the  polls  close,  and  after  that 
you  can  go  to  the  devil.  If  you  jump  out  at  this 
speed,  you  will  break  your  neck.  And  if  I  have 
to  slow  up  for  anything,  and  you  try  to  get  away, 
I'll  go  after  you — it  doesn't  matter  where  it  is— 
and  break  every  bone  in  your  body." 

"Yah!  you  can't!"  shrieked  Mr.  Schwab. 
"You  can't  do  it!"  The  madness  of  the  flying 
engines  had  got  upon  his  nerves.  Their  poison 
was  surging  in  his  veins.  He  knew  he  had  only 
to  touch  his  elbow  against  the  elbow  of  Winthrop, 
and  he  could  throw  the  three  of  them  into  eternity. 
He  was  travelling  on  air,  uplifted,  defiant,  carried 
beyond  himself. 

"I  can't  do  what?"  asked  Winthrop. 

The  words  reached  Schwab  from  an  immeasur- 
able distance,  as  from  another  planet,  a  calm, 
humdrum  planet  on  which  events  moved  in  com- 
monplace, orderly  array.  Without  a  jar,  with  no 
transition  stage,  instead  of  hurtling  through  space, 
Mr.  Schwab  found  himself  luxuriously  seated  in 
a  cushioned  chair,  motionless,  at  the  side  of  a 
steep  bank.  For  a  mile  before  him  stretched  an 
empty  road.  And  beside  him  in  the  car,  with 

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The  Scarlet  Car 

arms  folded  calmly  on  the  wheel,  there  glared  at 
him  a  grim,  alert  young  man. 

"I  can't  do  what?"  growled  the  young  man. 

A  feeling  of  great  loneliness  fell  upon  "Izzy" 
Schwab.  Where  were  now  those  officers,  who  in 
the  police  courts  were  at  his  beck  and  call  ? 
Where  the  numbered  houses,  the  passing  sur- 
face cars,  the  sweating  multitudes  of  Eighth  Ave- 
nue ?  In  all  the  world  he  was  alone,  alone  on 
an  empty  country  road,  with  a  grim,  alert  young 
man. 

"When  I  asked  you  how  you  knew  my  name," 
said  the  young  man,  "I  thought  you  knew  me  as 
having  won  some  races  in  Florida  last  winter. 
This  is  the  car  that  won.  I  thought  maybe  you 
might  have  heard  of  me  when  I  was  captain  of  a 
football  team  at — a  university.  If  you  have  any 
idea  that  you  can  jump  from  this  car  and  not  be 
killed,  or  that  I  cannot  pound  you  into  a  pulp, 
let  me  prove  to  you  you're  wrong — now.  We're 
quite  alone.  Do  you  wish  to  get  down  ? " 

"No,"  shrieked  Schwab,  "I  won't!"  He 
turned  appealingly  to  the  young  lady.  "You're  a 
witness,"  he  cried.  "If  he  assaults  me,  he's 
liable.  I  haven't  done  nothing." 

"Wefre  near  Yonkers,"  said  the  young  man, 
"and  if  you  try  to  take  advantage  of  my  having  to 

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The  Scarlet  Car 

go  slow  through  the  town,  you  know  now  what 
will  happen  to  you." 

Mr.  Schwab  having  instantly  planned,  on  reach- 
ing Yonkers,  to  leap  from  the  car  into  the  arms 
of  the  village  constable,  with  suspicious  alacrity 
assented.  The  young  man  regarded  him  doubt- 
fully. 

"I'm  afraid  I'll  have  to  show  you,"  said  the 
young  man.  He  laid  two  fingers  on  Mr.  Schwab's 
wrist;  looking  at  him,  as  he  did  so,  steadily  and 
thoughtfully,  like  a  physician  feeling  a  pulse. 
Mr.  Schwab  screamed.  When  he  had  seen 
policemen  twist  steel  nippers  on  the  wrists  of 
prisoners,  he  had  thought,  when  the  prisoners 
shrieked  and  writhed,  they  were  acting.  He 
now  knew  they  were  not. 

"Now,  will  you  promise?"  demanded  the  grim 
young  man. 

"Yes,"  gasped  Mr.  Schwab.  'Til  sit  still.  I 
won't  do  nothing." 

"Good,"  muttered  Winthrop. 

A  troubled  voice  that  carried  to  the  heart  of 
Schwab  a  promise  of  protection,  said:  "Mr. 
Schwab,  would  you  be  more  comfortable  back 
here  with  me?" 

Mr.  Schwab  turned  two  terrified  eyes  in  the 
direction  of  the  voice.  He  saw  the  beautiful 

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The  Scarlet  Car 

young  lady  regarding  him  kindly,  compassion- 
ately; with  just  a  suspicion  of  a  smile.  Mr. 
Schwab  instantly  scrambled  to  safety  over  the 
front  seat  into  the  body  of  the  car.  Miss  Forbes 
made  way  for  the  prisoner  beside  her  and  he 
sank  back  with  a  nervous,  apologetic  sigh.  The 
alert  young  man  was  quick  to  follow  the  lead  of 
the  lady. 

"You'll  find  caps  and  goggles  in  the  boot, 
Schwab,"  he  said  hospitably.  "You  had  better 
put  them  on.  We  are  going  rather  fast  now." 
He  extended  a  magnificent  case  of  pigskin,  that 
bloomed  with  fat  black  cigars.  "Try  one  of 
these,"  said  the  hospitable  young  man.  The 
emotions  that  swept  Mr.  Schwab  he  found  diffi- 
cult to  pursue,  but  he  raised  his  hat  to  the  lady. 
"May  I,  Miss?  "he  said. 

"Certainly,"  said  the  lady. 

There  was  a  moment  of  delay  while  with  fingers 
that  slightly  trembled,  Mr.  Schwab  selected  an 
amazing  green  cap  and  lit  his  cigar;  and  then  the 
car  swept  forward,  singing  and  humming  happily, 
and  scattering  the  autumn  leaves.  The  young 
lady  leaned  toward  him  with  a  book  in  a  leather 
cover.  She  placed  her  finger  on  a  twisting  red 
line  that  trickled  through  a  page  of  type. 

"We're  just  here,"  said  the  young  lady,  "and 
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The  Scarlet  Car 

we  ought  to  reach  home,  which  is  just  about 
there,  in  an  hour." 

"I  see,"  said  Schwab.  But  all  he  saw  was  a 
finger  in  a  white  glove,  and  long  eyelashes  tangled 
in  a  gray  veil. 

For  many  minutes  or,  for  all  Schwab  knew,  for 
many  miles,  the  young  lady  pointed  out  to  him 
the  places  along  the  Hudson,  of  which  he  had 
read  in  the  public  school  history,  and  quaint  old 
manor  houses  set  in  glorious  lawns;  and  told  him 
who  lived  in  them.  Schwab  knew  the  names  as 
belonging  to  down-town  streets,  and  up-town 
clubs.  He  became  nervously  humble,  intensely 
polite,  he  felt  he  was  being  carried  as  an  honored 
guest  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Four  Hundred, 
and  when  the  car  jogged  slowly  down  the  main 
street  of  Yonkers,  although  a  policeman  stood 
idly  within  a  yard  of  him,  instead  of  shrieking  to 
him  for  help,  "Izzy"  Schwab  looked  at  him  scorn- 
fully across  the  social  gulf  that  separated  them, 
with  all  the  intolerance  he  believed  becoming  in 
the  upper  classes. 

"Those  bicycle  cops,"  he  said  confidentially  to 
Miss  Forbes,  "are  too  chesty." 

The  car  turned  in  between  stone  pillars,  and 
under  an  arch  of  red  and  golden  leaves,  and  swept 
up  a  long  avenue  to  a  house  of  innumerable  roofs. 

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The  Scarlet  Car 

It  was  the  grandest  house  Mr.  Schwab  had  ever 
entered,  and  when  two  young  men  in  striped 
waistcoats  and  many  brass  buttons  ran  down 
the  stone  steps  and  threw  open  the  door  of  the 
car,  his  heart  fluttered  between  fear  and  pleas- 
ure. 

Lounging  before  an  open  fire  in  the  hall  were  a 
number  of  young  men,  who  welcomed  Winthrop 
delightedly,  and  to  all  of  whom  Mr.  Schwab  was 
formally  presented.  As  he  was  introduced  he 
held  each  by  the  hand  and  elbow  and  said  im- 
pressively, and  much  to  the  other's  embarrass- 
ment, "What  name,  please?" 

Then  one  of  the  servants  conducted  him  to  a 
room  opening  on  the  hall,  from  whence  he  heard 
stifled  exclamations  and  laughter,  and  some  one 
saying  "Hush."  But  "Izzy"  Schwab  did  not 
care.  The  slave  in  brass  buttons  was  proffering 
him  ivory-backed  hair-brushes,  and  obsequiously 
removing  the  dust  from  his  coat  collar.  Mr. 
Schwab  explained  to  him  that  he  was  not  dressed 
for  automobiling,  as  Mr.  Winthrop  had  invited 
him  quite  informally.  The  man  was  most  charm- 
ingly sympathetic.  And  when  he  returned  to  the 
hall  every  one  received  him  with  the  most  genial, 
friendly  interest.  Would  he  play  golf,  or  tennis, 
or  pool,  or  walk  over  the  farm,  or  just  look  on  ? 

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The  Scarlet  Car 

It  seemed  the  wish  of  each  to  be  his  escort.  Never 
had  he  been  so  popular. 

He  said  he  would  "just  look  on."  And  so, 
during  the  last  and  decisive  day  of  the  "whirl- 
wind" campaign,  while  in  Eighth  Avenue  voters 
were  being  challenged,  beaten,  and  bribed,  bon- 
fires were  burning,  and  "extras"  were  appearing 
every  half  hour,  "Izzy"  Schwab,  the  Tammany 
henchman,  with  a  secret  worth  twenty  thousand 
votes,  sat  a  prisoner,  in  a  wicker  chair,  with  a 
drink  and  a  cigar,  guarded  by  four  young  men  in 
flannels,  who  played  tennis  violently  at  five  dol- 
lars a  corner. 

It  was  always  a  great  day  in  the  life  of  "Izzy" 
Schwab.  After  a  luncheon,  which,  as  he  later 
informed  his  friends,  could  not  have  cost  less  than 
"two  dollars  a  plate  and  drink  all  you  like,"  Sam 
Forbes  took  him  on  at  pool.  Mr.  Schwab  had 
learned  the  game  in  the  cellars  of  Eighth  Avenue 
at  two  and  a  half  cents  a  cue,  and  now,  even  in 
Columbus  Circle  he  was  a  star.  So,  before  the 
sun  had  set  Mr.  Forbes,  who  at  pool  rather  fan- 
cied himself,  was  seventy-five  dollars  poorer,  and 
Mr.  Schwab  just  that  much  to  the  good.  Then 
there  followed  a  strange  ceremony  called  ^tea,  or, 
if  you  preferred  it,  whiskey  and  soda;  and  the 
tall  footman  bent  before  him  with  huge  silver  sal- 

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The  Scarlet  Car 

vers  laden  down  with  flickering  silver  lamps,  and 
bubbling  soda  bottles,  and  cigars,  and  cigarettes. 

"You  could  have  filled  your  pockets  with 
twenty-five  cent  Havanas,  and  nobody  would 
have  said  nothing!"  declared  Mr.  Schwab,  and 
his  friends,  who  never  had  enjoyed  his  chance  to 
study  at  such  close  quarters  the  truly  rich,  nodded 
enviously. 

At  six  o'clock  Mr.  Schwab  led  Winthrop  into 
the  big  library  and  asked  for  his  ticket  of  leave. 

"They'll  be  counting  the  votes  soon,"  he 
begged.  "I  can't  do  no  harm  now,  and  I  don't 
mean  to.  I  didn't  see  nothing,  and  I  won't  say 
nothing.  But  it's  election  night,  and — and  I  just 
got  to  be  on  Broadway." 

"Right,"  said  Winthrop,  "I'll  have  a  car  take 
you  in,  and  if  you  will  accept  this  small  check " 

"No!"  roared  "Izzy"  Schwab.  Afterward  he 
wondered  how  he  came  to  do  it.  "  You've  give 
me  a  good  time,  Mr.  Winthrop.  You've  treated 
me  fine,  all  the  gentlemen  have  treated  me  nice. 
I'm  not  a  blackmailer,  Mr.  Winthrop.5!  Mr. 
Schwab's  voice  shook  slightly. 

"Nonsense,  Schwab,  you  didn't  let  me  finish," 
said  Winthrop,  "I'm  likely  to  need  a  lawyer  any 
time;  this  is  a  retaining  fee.  Suppose  I  exceed 

the  speed  limit — I'm  liable  to  do  that '! 

99 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"You  bet  you  are!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Schwab 
violently. 

"Well,  then,  I'll  send  for  you,  and  there  isn't  a 
police  magistrate,  nor  any  of  the  traffic  squad, 
you  can't  handle,  is  there?" 

Mr.  Schwab  flushed  with  pleasure. 

"You  can  count  on  me,"  he  vowed,  "and  your 
friends,  too,  and  the  ladies,"  he  added  gallantly. 
"If  ever  the  ladies  want  to  get  bail,  tell  'em  to 
telephone  for  'Izzy'  Schwab.  Of  course,"  he 
said  reluctantly,  "if  it's  a  retaining  fee " 

But  when  he  read  the  face  of  the  check  he  ex- 
claimed in  protest:  "But,  Mr.  Winthrop,  this  is 
more  than  The  Journal  would  have  give  me!" 

They  put  him  in  a  car  belonging  to  one  of  the 
other  men,  and  all  came  out  on  the  steps  to  wave 
him  "good-by,"  and  he  drove  magnificently  into 
his  own  district,  where  there  were  over  a  dozen 
men  who  swore  he  tipped  the  French  chauffeur  a 
five-dollar  bill  "just  like  it  was  a  cigarette." 

All  of  election  day  since  her  arrival  in  Win- 
throp's  car  Miss  Forbes  had  kept  to  herself.  In 
the  morning,  when  the  other  young  people  were 
out  of  doors,  she  remained  in  her  room,  and  after 
luncheon,  when  they  gathered  round  the  billiard 
table,  she  sent  for  her  cart  and  drove  off  alone. 
The  others  thought  she  was  concerned  over  the 

100 


The  Scarlet  Gar 

possible  result  of  the  election,  and  did  not  want  to 
disturb  them  by  her  anxiety.  Winthrop,  thinking 
the  presence  of  Schwab  embarrassed  her,  recalling 
as  it  did  Peabody' s  unfortunate  conduct  of  the 
morning,  blamed  himself  for  bringing  Schwab  to 
the  house.  But  he  need  not  have  distressed  him- 
self. Miss  Forbes  was  thinking  neither  of 
Schwab  nor  Peabody,  nor  was  she  worried  or 
embarrassed.  On  the  contrary,  she  was  com- 
pletely happy. 

When  that  morning  she  had  seen  Peabody  run- 
ning up  the  steps  of  the  Elevated,  all  the  doubts, 
the  troubles,  questions,  and  misgivings  that  night 
and  day  for  the  last  three  months  had  upset  her, 
fell  from  her  shoulders  like  the  pilgrim's  heavy 
pack.  For  months  she  had  been  telling  herself 
that  the  unrest  she  felt  when  with  Peabody  was 
due  to  her  not  being  able  to  appreciate  the  impor- 
tance of  those  big  affairs  in  which  he  was  so  inter- 
ested; in  which  he  was  so  admirable  a  figure. 
She  had,  as  she  supposed,  loved  him,  because  he 
was  earnest,  masterful,  intent  of  purpose.  His 
had  seemed  a  fine  character.  When  she  had 
compared  him  with  the  amusing  boys  of  her  own 
age,  the  easy-going  joking  youths  to  whom  the 
betterment  of  New  York  was  of  no  concern,  she 
had  been  proud  in  her  choice.  She  was  glad 

101 


Tl*e  Scarlet  Car 

Peabody  was  ambitious.  She  was  ambitious  for 
him.  She  was  glad  to  have  him  consult  her  on 
those  questions  of  local  government,  to  listen  to 
his  fierce,  contemptuous  abuse  of  Tammany. 
And  yet  early  in  their  engagement  she  had  missed 
something,  something  she  had  never  known,  but 
which  she  felt  sure  should  exist.  Whether  she 
had  seen  it  in  the  lives  of  others,  or  read  of  it  in 
romances,  or  whether  it  was  there  because  it  was 
nature  to  desire  to  be  loved,  she  did  not  know. 
But  long  before  Winthrop  returned  from  his  trip 
round  the  world,  in  her  meetings  with  the  man 
she  was  to  marry,  she  had  begun  to  find  that  there 
was  something  lacking.  And  Winthrop  had 
shown  her  that  this  something  lacking  was  the 
one  thing  needful.  When  Winthrop  had  gone 
abroad  he  was  only  one  of  her  brother's  several 
charming  friends.  One  of  the  amusing  merry 
youths  who  came  and  went  in  the  house  as  freely 
as  Sam  himself.  Now,  after  two  years'  absence, 
he  refused  to  be  placed  in  that  category. 

He  rebelled  on  the  first  night  of  his  return.  As 
she  came  down  to  the  dinner  of  welcome  her 
brother  was  giving  Winthrop,  he  stared  at  her  as 
though  she  were  a  ghost,  and  said,  so  solemnly 
that  every  one  in  the  room,  even  Peabody,  smiled: 
"Now  I  know  why  I  came  home."  That  he 

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The  Scarlet  Car 

refused  to  recognize  her  engagement  to  Peabody, 
that  on  every  occasion  he  told  her,  or  by  some 
act  showed  her,  he  loved  her;  that  he  swore  she 
should  never  marry  any  one  but  himself,  and  that 
he  would  never  marry  any  one  but  her,  did  not 
at  first,  except  to  annoy,  in  any  way  impress  her. 
But  he  showed  her  what  in  her  intercourse  with 
Peabody  was  lacking.  At  first  she  wished  Pea- 
body  could  find  time  to  be  as  fond  of  her,  as  fool- 
ishly fond  of  her,  as  was  Winthrop.  But  she 
realized  that  this  was  unreasonable.  Winthrop 
was  just  a  hot-headed  impressionable  boy,  Pea- 
body  was  a  man  doing  a  man's  work.  And  then 
she  found  that  week  after  week  she  became  more 
difficult  to  please.  Other  things  in  which  she 
wished  Peabody  might  be  more  like  Winthrop, 
obtruded  themselves.  Little  things  which  she 
was  ashamed  to  notice,  but  which  rankled;  and 
big  things,  such  as  consideration  for  others,  and 
a  sense  of  humor,  and  not  talking  of  himself. 
Since  this  campaign  began,  at  times  she  had  felt 
that  if  Peabody  said  "I"  once  again,  she  must 
scream.  She  assured  herself  she  was  as  yet  un- 
worthy of  him,  that  her  intelligence  was  weak, 
that  as  she  grew  older  and  so  better  able  to  under- 
stand serious  affairs,  such  as  the  importance  of 
having  an  honest  man  at  Albany  as  Lieutenant- 

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The  Scarlet  Car 

Governor,  they  would  become  more  in  sympathy. 
And  now,  at  a  stroke,  the  whole  fabric  of  self- 
deception  fell  from  her.  It  was  not  that  she  saw 
Peabody  so  differently,  but  that  she  saw  her- 
self and  her  own  heart,  and  where  it  lay.  And 
she  knew  that  "Billy"  Winthrop,  gentle,  joking, 
selfish  only  in  his  love  for  her,  held  it  in  his  two 
strong  hands. 

For  the  moment,  when  as  she  sat  in  the  car 
deserted  by  Peabody  this  truth  flashed  upon  her, 
she  forgot  the  man  lying  injured  in  the  street,  the 
unscrubbed  mob  crowding  about  her.  She  was 
conscious  only  that  a  great  weight  had  been  lifted. 
That  her  blood  was  flowing  again,  leaping,  beat- 
ing, dancing  through  her  body.  It  seemed  as 
though  she  could  not  too  quickly  tell  Winthrop. 
For  both  of  them  she  had  lost  out  of  their  lives 
many  days.  She  had  risked  losing  him  for  al- 
ways. Her  only  thought  was  to  make  up  to  him 
and  to  herself  the  wasted  time.  But  throughout 
the  day  the  one-time  welcome,  but  now  intruding, 
friends  and  the  innumerable  conventions  of  hos- 
pitality required  her  to  smile  and  show  an  inter- 
est, when  her  heart  and  mind  were  crying  out  the 
one  great  fact. 

It  was  after  dinner,  and  the  members  of  the 
house  party  were  scattered  between  the  billiard- 

104 


The  Scarlet  Car 

room  and  the  piano.    Sam  Forbes  returned  from 
the  telephone. 

"Tammany/*  he  announced,  "concedes  the 
election  of  Jerome  by  forty  thousand  votes,  and 
that  he  carries  his  ticket  with  him.  Ernest  Pea- 
body  is  elected  his  Lieutenant-Governor  by  a 
thousand  votes.  Ernest/'  he  added,  "seems  to 
have  had  a  close  call."  There  was  a  tremendous 
chorus  of  congratulations  in  the  cause  of  Reform. 
They  drank  the  health  of  Peabody.  Peabody 
himself,  on  the  telephone,  informed  Sam  Forbes 
that  a  conference  of  the  leaders  would  prevent 
his  being  present  with  them  that  evening.  The 
enthusiasm  for  Reform  perceptibly  increased. 

An  hour  later  Winthrop  came  over  to  Beatrice 
and  held  out  his  hand.  "Fm  going  to  slip  away/' 
he  said.  "Good-night." 

"Going  away!"  exclaimed  Beatrice. 

Her  voice  showed  such  apparently  acute  con- 
cern that  Winthrop  wondered  how  the  best  of 
women  could  be  so  deceitful,  even  to  be  polite. 

"I  promised  some  men,"  he  stammered,  "to 
drive  them  down-town  to  see  the  crowds." 

Beatrice  shook  her  head. 

"It's  far  too  late  for  that,"  she  said.  "Tell 
me  the  real  reason." 

Winthrop  turned  away  his  eyes. 
105 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"Oh!  the  real  reason/'  he  said  gravely,  "is  the 
same  old  reason,  the  one  I'm  not  allowed  to  talk 
about.  It's  cruelly  hard  when  I  don't  see  you," 
he  went  on,  slowly  dragging  out  the  words,  "but 
it's  harder  when  I  do;  so  I'm  going  to  say  'good- 
night' and  run  into  town." 

He  stood  for  a  moment  staring  moodily  at  the 
floor,  and  then  dropped  into  a  chair  beside 
her. 

"And,  I  believe,  I've  not  told  you,"  he  went  on, 
"that  on  Wednesday  I'm  running  away  for  good, 
that  is,  for  a  year  or  two.  I've  made  ail  the 
fight  I  can  and  I  lose,  and  there  is  no  use  in  my 
staying  on  here  to — well — to  suffer,  that  is  the 
plain  English  of  it.  So,"  he  continued  briskly, 
"I  won't  be  here  for  the  ceremony,  and  this  is 
'good-by'  as  well  as  'good-night.' ' 

"Where  are  you  going  for  a  year?"  asked  Miss 
Forbes. 

Her  voice  now  showed  no  concern.  It  even 
sounded  as  though  she  did  not  take  his  news  seri- 
ously, as  though  as  to  his  movements  she  was 
possessed  of  a  knowledge  superior  to  his  own. 
He  tried  to  speak  in  matter-of-fact  tones. 

"To  Uganda!"  he  said. 

"To  Uganda  ?"  repeated  Miss  Forbes.  "Where 
is  Uganda?" 

106 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"It  is  in  East  Africa;  I  had  bad  luck  there  last 
trip,  but  now  I  know  the  country  better,  and  I 
ought  to  get  some  good  shooting." 

Miss  Forbes  appeared  indifferently  incredulous. 
In  her  eyes  there  was  a  look  of  radiant  happiness. 
It  rendered  them  bewilderingly  beautiful. 

"On  Wednesday/'  she  said.  "Won't  you  come 
and  see  us  again  before  you  sail  for  Uganda?" 

Winthrop  hesitated. 

"I'll  stop  in  and  say  'good-by'  to  your  mother 
if  she's  in  town,  and  to  thank  her.  She's  been 
awfully  good  to  me.  But  you — I  really  would 
rather  not  see  you  again.  You  understand,  or 
rather,  you  don't  understand,  and,"  he  added 
vehemently,  "you  never  will  understand."  He 
stood  looking  down  at  her  miserably. 

On  the  driveway  outside  there  was  a  crunch- 
ing on  the  gravel  of  heavy  wheels  and  an  aurora- 
borealis  of  lights. 

"There's  your  car,"  said  Miss  Forbes.  "I'll 
go  out  and  see  you  off." 

"You're  very  good,"  muttered  Winthrop.  He 
could  not  understand.  This  parting  from  her 
was  the  great  moment  in  his  life,  and  although 
she  must  know  that,  she  seemed  to  be  making  it 
unnecessarily  hard  for  him.  He  had  told  her  he 

107 


The  Scarlet  Car 

was  going  to  a  place  very  far  away,  to  be  gone  a 
long  time,  and  she  spoke  of  saying  "good-by" 
to  him  as  pleasantly  as  though  it  was  his  inten- 
tion to  return  from  Uganda  for  breakfast. 

Instead  of  walking  through  the  hall  where  the 
others  were  gathered,  she  led  him  out  through  one 
of  the  French  windows  upon  the  terrace,  and 
along  it  to  the  steps.  When  she  saw  the  chauf- 
feur standing  by  the  car,  she  stopped. 

"I  thought  you  were  going  alone,"  she  said. 

"I  am,"  answered  Winthrop.  "It's  not  Fred; 
that's  Sam's  chauffeur;  he  only  brought  the  car 
around." 

The  man  handed  Winthrop  his  coat  and  cap, 
and  left  them,  and  Winthrop  seated  himself  at 
the  wheel.  She  stood  above  him  on  the  top  step. 
In  the  evening  gown  of  lace  and  silver  she  looked 
a  part  of  the  moonlight  night.  For  each  of 
them  the  moment  had  arrived.  Like  a  swimmer 
standing  on  the  bank  gathering  courage  for  the 
plunge,  Miss  Forbes  gave  a  trembling,  shivering 
sigh. 

"You're  cold/'  said  Winthrop,  gently.  "You 
must  go  in.  Good-by." 

"It  isn't  that,"  said  the  girl.  "Have  you  an 
extra  coat?" 

"It  isn't  cold  enough  for " 

108 


The  Scarlet  Car 

"I  meant  for  me,"  stammered  the  girl  in  a 
frightened  voice.  "I  thought  perhaps  you  would 
take  me  a  little  way,  and  bring  me  back/' 

At  first  the  young  man  did  not  answer,  but  sat 
staring  in  front  of  him,  then,  he  said  simply: 

"It's  awfully  good  of  you,  Beatrice.  I  won't 
forget  it." 

It  was  a  wonderful  autumn  night,  moonlight, 
cold,  clear  and  brilliant.  She  stepped  in  beside 
him  and  wrapped  herself  in  one  of  his  great- 
coats. They  started  swiftly  down  the  avenue  of 
trees. 

"No,  not  fast,"  begged  the  girl,  "I  want  to 
talk  to  you." 

The  car  checked  and  rolled  forward  smoothly, 
sometimes  in  deep  shadow,  sometimes  in  the  soft 
silver  glamour  of  the  moon;  beneath  them  the 
fallen  leaves  crackled  and  rustled  under  the  slow 
moving  wheels.  At  the  highway  Winthrop  hesi- 
tated. It  lay  before  them  arched  with  great  and 
ancient  elms;  below,  the  Hudson  glittered  and 
rippled  in  the  moonlight. 

"Which  way  do  you  want  to  go?3*  said  Win- 
throp. 

His  voice  was  very  grateful,  very  humble. 

The  girl  did  not  answer. 

There  was  a  long,  long  pause. 
109 


The  Scarlet  Car 

Then  he  turned  and  looked  at  her  and  saw  her 
smiling  at  him  with  that  light  in  her  eyes  that 
never  was  on  land  or  sea. 

"To  Uganda,"  said  the  girl. 


no 


THE    PRINCESS  ALINE 


THE  PRINCESS  ALINE 


i 


HR.  H.  the  Princess  Aline  of  Hohenwald 
•  came  into  the  life  of  Morton  Carlton — or 
"Morney"  Carlton,  as  men  called  him — of  New 
York  City,  when  that  young  gentleman's  affairs 
and  affections  were  best  suited  to  receive  her.  Had 
she  made  her  appearance  three  years  sooner  or 
three  years  later,  it  is  quite  probable  that  she  would 
have  passed  on  out  of  his  life  with  no  more  recog- 
nition from  him  than  would  have  been  expressed 
in  a  look  of  admiring  curiosity. 

But  coming  when  she  did,  when  his  time  and 
heart  were  both  unoccupied,  she  had  an  influence 
upon  young  Mr.  Carlton  which  led  him  into  doing 
several  wise  and  many  foolish  things,  and  which 
remained  with  him  always.  Carlton  had  reached 
a  point  in  his  life,  and  very  early  in  his  life,  when 
he  could  afford  to  sit  at  ease  and  look  back  with 
modest  satisfaction  to  what  he  had  forced  him- 
self to  do,  and  forward  with  pleasurable  anticipa- 
tions to  whatsoever  he  might  choose  to  do  in  the 

"3 


The  Princess  Aline 

future.  The  world  had  appreciated  what  he  had 
done,  and  had  put  much  to  his  credit,  and  he  was 
prepared  to  draw  upon  this  grandly. 

At  the  age  of  twenty  he  had  found  himself  his 
own  master,  with  excellent  family  connections,  but 
with  no  family,  his  only  relative  being  a  bachelor 
uncle,  who  looked  at  life  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  Union  Club's  windows,  and  who  objected  to 
his  nephew's  leaving  Harvard  to  take  up  the  study 
of  art  in  Paris.  In  that  city  (where  at  Julian's  he 
was  nicknamed  the  Junior  Carlton,  for  the  ob- 
vious reason  that  he  was  the  older  of  the  two 
Carltons  in  the  class,  and  because  he  was  well- 
dressed)  he  had  shown  himself  a  harder  worker 
than  others  who  were  less  careful  of  their  appear- 
ance and  of  their  manners.  His  work,  of  which 
he  did  not  talk,  and  his  ambitions,  of  which  he 
also  did  not  talk,  bore  fruit  early,  and  at  twenty- 
six  he  had  become  a  portrait-painter  of  interna- 
tional reputation.  Then  the  French  government 
purchased  one  of  his  paintings  at  an  absurdly 
small  figure,  and  placed  it  in  the  Luxembourg, 
from  whence  it  would  in  time  depart  to  be  buried 
in  the  hall  of  some  provincial  city;  and  American 
millionaires,  and  English  Lord  Mayors,  members 
of  Parliament,  and  members  of  the  Institute,  mas- 
ters of  hounds  in  pink  coats,  and  ambassadors  in 

114 


The  Princess  Aline 

gold  lace,  and  beautiful  women  of  all  nationalities 
and  conditions  sat  before  his  easel.  And  so  when 
he  returned  to  New  York  he  was  welcomed  with 
an  enthusiasm  which  showed  that  his  country- 
men had  feared  that  the  artistic  atmosphere  of 
the  Old  World  had  stolen  him  from  them  forever. 
He  was  particularly  silent,  even  at  this  date,  about 
his  work,  and  listened  to  what  others  had  to  say 
of  it  with  much  awe,  not  unmixed  with  some 
amusement,  that  it  should  be  he  who  was  capable 
of  producing  anything  worthy  of  such  praise. 
We  have  been  told  what  the  mother  duck  felt  when 
her  ugly  duckling  turned  into  a  swan,  but  we  have 
never  considered  how  much  the  ugly  duckling  must 
have  marvelled  also. 

"Carlton  is  probably  the  only  living  artist,"  a 
brother  artist  had  said  of  him,  "who  fails  to  ap- 
preciate how  great  his  work  is."  And  on  this 
being  repeated  to  Carlton  by  a  good-natured 
friend,  he  had  replied  cheerfully,  "Well,  Fm 
sorry,  but  it  is  certainly  better  to  be  the  only  one 
who  doesn't  appreciate  it  than  to  be  the  only  one 
who  does." 

He  had  never  understood  why  such  a  responsi- 
bility had  been  intrusted  to  him.  It  was,  as  he 
expressed  it,  not  at  all  in  his  line,  and  young  girls 
who  sought  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  master  found 

"5 


The  Princess  Aline 

him  making  love  to  them  in  the  most  charming 
manner  in  the  world,  as  though  he  were  not  en- 
titled to  all  the  rapturous  admiration  of  their  very 
young  hearts,  but  had  to  sue  for  it  like  any  ordi- 
nary mortal.  Carlton  always  felt  as  though  some 
day  some  one  would  surely  come  along  and  say: 
"Look  here,  young  man,  this  talent  doesn't  be- 
long to  you;  it's  mine.  What  do  you  mean  by 
pretending  that  such  an  idle  good-natured  youth 
as  yourself  is  entitled  to  such  a  gift  of  genius?" 
He  felt  that  he  was  keeping  it  in  trust,  as  it  were; 
that  it  had  been  changed  at  birth,  and  that  the 
proper  guardian  would  eventually  relieve  him  of 
his  treasure. 

Personally  Carlton  was  of  the  opinion  that  he 
should  have  been  born  in  the  active  days  of  knights- 
errant — to  have  had  nothing  more  serious  to  do 
than  to  ride  abroad  with  a  blue  ribbon  fastened  to 
the  point  of  his  lance,  and  with  the  spirit  to  unhorse 
any  one  who  objected  to  its  color,  or  to  the  claims 
of  superiority  of  the  noble  lady  who  had  tied  it 
there.  There  was  not,  in  his  opinion,  at  the  present 
day  any  sufficiently  pronounced  method  of  de- 
claring admiration  for  the  many  lovely  women  this 
world  contained.  A  proposal  of  marriage  he  con- 
sidered to  be  a  mean  and  clumsy  substitute  for 
the  older  way,  and  was  uncomplimentary  to  the 

116 


The  Princess  Aline 

many  other  women  left  unasked,  and  marriage 
itself  required  much  more  constancy  than  he  could 
give.  He  had  a  most  romantic  and  old-fashioned 
ideal  of  women  as  a  class,  and  from  the  age  of 
fourteen  had  been  a  devotee  of  hundreds  of  them 
as  individuals;  and  though  in  that  time  his  ideal 
had  received  several  severe  shocks,  he  still  be- 
lieved that  the  "not  impossible  she"  existed  some- 
where, and  his  conscientious  efforts  to  find  out 
whether  every  woman  he  met  might  not  be  that 
one  had  led  him  not  unnaturally  into  many  diffi- 
culties. 

"The  trouble  with  me  is,"  he  said,  "that  I  care 
too  much  to  make  Platonic  friendship  possible, 
and  don't  care  enough  to  marry  any  particular 
woman — that  is,  of  course,  supposing  that  any 
particular  one  would  be  so  little  particular  as  to 
be  willing  to  marry  me.  How  embarrassing  it 
would  be,  now,"  he  argued,  "if  when  you  were 
turning  away  from  the  chancel  after  the  ceremony 
you  should  look  at  one  of  the  bridemaids  and 
see  the  woman  whom  you  really  should  have 
married!  HOWT  distressing  that  would  be!  You 
couldn't  very  well  stop  and  say:  'I  am  very  sorry, 
my  dear,  but  it  seems  I  have  made  a  mistake. 
That  young  woman  on'  the  right  has  a  most  in- 
teresting and  beautiful  face.  I  am  very  much 

117 


The  Princess  Aline 

afraid  that  she  is  the  one/  It  would  be  too  late 
then;  while  now,  in  my  free  state,  I  can  continue 
my  search  without  any  sense  of  responsibility." 

"Why" — he  would  exclaim — "I  have  walked 
miles  to  get  a  glimpse  of  a  beautiful  woman  in  a 
suburban  window,  and  time  and  time  again  when 
I  have  seen  a  face  in  a  passing  brougham  I  have 
pursued  it  in  a  hansom,  and  learned  where  the 
owner  of  the  face  lived,  and  spent  weeks  in  finding 
some  one  to  present  me,  only  to  discover  that  she 
was  self-conscious  or  uninteresting  or  engaged. 
Still  I  had  assured  myself  that  she  was  not  the  one. 
I  am  very  conscientious,  and  I  consider  that  it  is 
my  duty  to  go  so  far  with  every  woman  I  meet 
as  to  be  able  to  learn  whether  she  is  or  is  not 
the  one,  and  the  sad  result  is  that  I  am  like  a  man 
who  follows  the  hounds  but  is  never  in  at  the 
death." 

"Well,"    some    married    woman    would    sa 
grimly,  "I  hope  you  will  get  your  deserts  som 
day;  and  you  will,  too.    Some  day  some  girl  will 
make  you  suffer  for  this." 

"Oh,  that's  all  right,"  Carlton  would  answer, 
meekly.  "  Lots  of  women  have  made  me  suffer, 
if  that's  what  you  think  I  need." 

"Some  day,"  the  married  woman  would  proph- 
esy, "you  will  care  for  a  woman  so  much  that 

118 


be 

: 


The  Princess  Aline 

you  will  have  no  eyes  for  any  one  else.  That's 
the  way  it  is  when  one  is  married." 

"Well,  when  that's  the  way  it  is  with  me" 
Carlton  would  reply,  "I  certainly  hope  to  get 
married;  but  until  it  is,  I  think  it  is  safer  for  all 
concerned  that  I  should  not." 

Then  Carlton  would  go  to  the  club  and  com- 
plain bitterly  to  one  of  his  friends. 

"How  unfair  married  women  are!"  he  would 
say.  "The  idea  of  thinking  a  man  could  have  no 
eyes  but  for  one  woman!  Suppose  I  had  never 
heard  a  note  of  music  until  I  was  twenty-five  years 
of  age,  and  was  then  given  my  hearing.  Do  you 
suppose  my  pleasure  in  music  would  make  me 
lose  my  pleasure  in  everything  else  ?  Suppose  I 
met  and  married  a  girl  at  twenty-five.  Is  that 
going  to  make  me  forget  all  the  women  I  knew 
before  I  met  her  ?  I  think  not.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  I  really  deserve  a  great  deal  of  credit  for 
remaining  single,  for  I  am  naturally  very  affec- 
tionate; but  when  I  see  what  poor  husbands  my 
friends  make,  I  prefer  to  stay  as  I  am  until  I  am 
sure  that  I  will  make  a  better  one.  It  is  only 
fair  to  the  woman." 

Carlton  was  sitting  in  the  club  alone.  He  had 
that  sense  of  superiority  over  his  fellows  and  of 
irresponsibility  to  the  world  about  him  that  comes 

119 


The  Princess  Aline 

to  a  man  when  he  knows  that  his  trunks  are  being 
packed  and  that  his  state-room  is  engaged.  He 
was  leaving  New  York  long  before  most  of  his 
friends  could  get  away.  He  did  not  know  just 
where  he  was  going,  and  preferred  not  to  know. 
He  wished  to  have  a  complete  holiday,  and  to  see 
Europe  as  an  idle  tourist,  and  not  as  an  artist 
with  an  eye  to  his  own  improvement.  He  had 
plenty  of  time  and  money;  he  was  sure  to  run 
across  friends  in  the  big  cities,  and  acquaintances 
he  could  make  or  not,  as  he  pleased,  en  route. 
He  was  not  sorry  to  go.  His  going  would  serve 
to  put  an  end  to  what  gossip  there  might  be  of 
his  engagement  to  numerous  young  women  whose 
admiration  for  him  as  an  artist,  he  was  beginning 
to  fear,  had  taken  on  a  more  personal  tinge.  "I 
wish,"  he  said,  gloomily,  "I  didn't  like  people  so 
well.  It  seems  to  cause  them  and  me  such  a  lot 
of  trouble." 

He  sighed,  and  stretched  out  his  hand  for  a 
copy  of  one  of  the  English  illustrated  papers.  It 
had  a  fresher  interest  to  him  because  the  next 
number  of  it  that  he  would  see  would  be  in  the 
city  in  which  it  was  printed.  The  paper  in  his 
hands  was  the  St.  James  Budget,  and  it  contained 
much  fashionable  intelligence  concerning  the 
preparations  for  a  royal  wedding  which  was  soon 

120 


The  Princess  Aline 

to  take  place  between  members  of  two  of  the 
reigning  families  of  Europe.  There  was  on  one 
page  a  half-tone  reproduction  of  a  photograph, 
which  showed  a  group  of  young  people  belonging 
to  several  of  these  reigning  families,  with  their 
names  and  titles  printed  above  and  below  the 
picture.  They  were  princesses,  archdukes,  or 
grand  dukes,  and  they  were  dressed  like  young 
English  men  and  women,  and  with  no  sign 
about  them  of  their  possible  military  or  social 
rank. 

One  of  the  young  princesses  in  the  photograph 
was  looking  out  of  it  and  smiling  in  a  tolerant, 
amused  way,  as  though  she  had  thought  of  some- 
thing which  she  could  not  wait  to  enjoy  until 
after  the  picture  was  taken.  She  was  not  posing 
consciously,  as  were  some  of  the  others,  but  was 
sitting  in  a  natural  attitude,  with  one  arm  over 
the  back  of  her  chair,  and  with  her  hands  clasped 
before  her.  Her  face  was  full  of  a  fine  intelli- 
gence and  humor,  and  though  one  of  the  other 
princesses  in  the  group  was  far  more  beautiful, 
this  particular  one  had  a  much  more  high-bred 
air,  and  there  was  something  of  a  challenge  in 
her  smile  that  made  any  one  who  looked  at  the 
picture  smile  also.  Carlton  studied  the  face  for 
some  time,  and  mentally  approved  of  its  beauty; 

121 


The  Princess  Aline 

the  others  seemed  in  comparison  wooden  and 
unindividual,  but  this  one  looked  like  a  person 
he  might  have  known,  and  whom  he  would  cer- 
tainly have  liked.  He  turned  the  page  and  sur- 
veyed the  features  of  the  Oxford  crew  with  lesser 
interest,  and  then  turned  the  page  again  and 
gazed  critically  and  severely  at  the  face  of  the 
princess  with  the  high-bred  smile.  He  had  hoped 
that  he  would  find  it  less  interesting  at  a  second 
glance,  but  it  did  not  prove  to  be  so. 

"'The  Princess  Aline  of  Hohenwald,'"  he 
read.  "She's  probably  engaged  to  one  of  those 
Johnnies  beside  her,  and  the  Grand-Duke  of 
Hohenwald  behind  her  must  be  her  brother." 
He  put  the  paper  down  and  went  in  to  luncheon, 
and  diverted  himself  by  mixing  a  salad  dressing; 
but  after  a  few  moments  he  stopped  in  the  midst 
of  this  employment,  and  told  the  waiter,  with 
some  unnecessary  sharpness,  to  bring  him  the 
last  copy  of  the  St.  James  Budget. 

"Confound  it!"  he  added,  to  himself. 

He  opened  the  paper  with  a  touch  of  impatience 
and  gazed  long  and  earnestly  at  the  face  of  the 
Princess  Aline,  who  continued  to  return  his  look 
with  the  same  smile  of  amused  tolerance.     Carl 
ton  noted  every  detail  of  her  tailor-made  gowi 
of  her  high  mannish  collar,  of  her  tie,  and  ev< 

122 


The  Princess  Aline 

the  rings  on  her  hand.  There  was  nothing  about 
her  of  which  he  could  fairly  disapprove.  He 
wondered  why  it  was  that  she  could  not  have 
been  born  an  approachable  New  York  girl  instead 
of  a  princess  of  a  little  German  duchy,  hedged  in 
throughout  her  single  life,  and  to  be  traded  off 
eventually  in  marriage  with  as  much  considera- 
tion as  though  she  were  a  princess  of  a  real  king- 
dom. 

"She  looks  jolly  too,5*  he  mused,  in  an  injured 
tone;  "and  so  very  clever;  and  of  course  she  has 
a  beautiful  complexion.  All  those  German  girls 
have.  Your  Royal  Highness  is  more  than  pretty," 
he  said,  bowing  his  head  gravely.  "You  look  as 
a  princess  should  look.  I  am  sure  it  was  one  of 
your  ancestors  who  discovered  the  dried  pea 
under  a  dozen  mattresses."  He  closed  the  paper, 
and  sat  for  a  moment  with  a  perplexed  smile  of 
consideration.  "Waiter,"  he  exclaimed,  sud- 
denly, "send  a  messenger-boy  to  Brentano's  for 
a  copy  of  the  St.  James  Budget,  and  bring  me  the 
Almanach  de  Gotha  from  the  library.  It  is  a 
little  fat  red  book  on  the  table  near  the  window." 
Then  Carlton  opened  the  paper  again  and  propped 
it  up  against  a  carafe,  and  continued  his  critical 
survey  of  the  Princess  Aline.  He  seized  the  Al- 
manach, when  it  came,  with  some  eagerness. 

123 


The  Princess  Aline 

"Hohenwald  (Maison  de  Grasse),"  he  read, 
and  in  small  type  below  it: 

"i.  Ligne  cadette  (regnante)  grand-ducale :  Hohen- 
wald et  de  Grasse. 

"Guillaume  -  Albert  -  Frederick  -  Charles  -  Louis, 
Grand-Due  de  Hohenwald  et  de  Grasse,  etc.,  etc.,  etc." 

"That's  the  brother,  right  enough/'  muttered 
Carl  ton. 

And  under  the  heading  "Sceurs"  he  read: 

"4.  Psse  Aline. — Victoria-Beatrix-Louise-Helene,  Alt. 
Gr.-Duc.  Nee  a  Grasse,  Juin,  1872." 

"Twenty-two  years  old,"  exclaimed  Carlton. 
"What  a  perfect  age!  I  could  not  have  invented 
a  better  one/'  He  looked  from  the  book  to  the 
face  before  him.  "Now,  my  dear  young  lady," 
he  said,  "I  know  all  about  you.  You  live  at 
Grasse,  and  you  are  connected,  to  judge  by  your 
names,  with  all  the  English  royalties;  and  very 
pretty  names  they  are,  too — Aline,  Helene,  Vic- 
toria, Beatrix.  You  must  be  much  more  English 
than  you  are  German;  and  I  suppose  you  live  in 
a  little  old  castle,  and  your  brother  has  a  standing 
army  of  twelve  men,  and  some  day  you  are  to 
marry  a  Russian  Grand-Duke,  or  whoever  your 
brother's  Prime  Minister — if  he  has  a  Prime 

124 


The  Princess  Aline 

Minister — decides  is  best  for  the  politics  of  your 
little  toy  kingdom.  Ah!  to  think/*  exclaimed 
Carlton,  softly,  "that  such  a  lovely  and  glorious 
creature  as  that  should  be  sacrificed  for  so  insig- 
nificant a  thing  as  the  peace  of  Europe  when  she 
might  make  some  young  man  happy?" 

He  carried  a  copy  of  the  paper  to  his  room,  and 
cut  the  picture  of  the  group  out  of  the  page  and 
pasted  it  carefully  on  a  stiff  piece  of  card-board. 
Then  he  placed  it  on  his  dressing-table,  in  front 
of  a  photograph  of  a  young  woman  in  a  large 
silver  frame — which  was  a  sign,  had  the  young 
woman  but  known  it,  that  her  reign  for  the  time 
being  was  over. 

Nolan,  the  young  Irishman  who  "did  for" 
Carlton,  knew  better  than  to  move  it  when  he 
found  it  there.  He  had  learned  to  study  his  mas- 
ter since  he  had  joined  him  in  London,  and  un- 
derstood that  one  photograph  in  the  silver  frame 
was  entitled  to  more  consideration  than  three 
others  on  the  writing-desk  or  half  a  dozen  on  the 
mantel-piece.  Nolan  had  seen  them  come  and 
go;  he  had  watched  them  rise  and  fall;  he  had 
carried  notes  to  them,  and  books  and  flowers; 
and  had  helped  to  depose  them  from  the  silver 
frame  and  move  them  on  by  degrees  down  the 
line,  until  they  went  ingloriously  into  the  big 

125 


The  Princess  Aline 

brass  bowl  on  the  side  table.  Nolan  approved 
highly  of  this  last  choice.  He  did  not  know  which 
one  of  the  three  in  the  group  it  might  be;  but  they 
were  all  pretty,  and  their  social  standing  was  cer- 
tainly distinguished. 

Guido,  the  Italian  model  who  ruled  over  the 
studio,  and  Nolan  were  busily  packing  when 
Carlton  entered.  He  always  said  that  Guido 
represented  him  in  his  professional  and  Nolan  in 
his  social  capacity.  Guido  cleaned  the  brushes 
and  purchased  the  artists'  materials;  Nolan 
cleaned  his  riding-boots  and  bought  his  theatre 
and  railroad  tickets. 

"Guido,"  said  Carlton,  "there  are  two  sketches 
I  made  in  Germany  last  year,  one  of  the  Prime 
Minister,  and  one  of  Ludwig  the  actor;  get  them 
out  for  me,  will  you,  and  pack  them  for  shipping. 
Nolan,"  he  went  on,  "here  is  a  telegram  to  send." 

Nolan  would  not  have  read  a  letter,  but  he 
looked  upon  telegrams  as  public  documents,  the 
reading  of  them  as  part  of  his  perquisites.  This 
one  was  addressed  to  Oscar  Von  Holtz,  First 
Secretary,  German  Embassy,  Washington,  D.  C., 
and  the  message  read: 

"Please  telegraph  me  full  title  and  address  Princess 
Aline  of  Hohenwald.  Where  would  a  letter  reach  her  ? 

"MORTON  CARLTON." 
126 


The  Princess  Aline 

The  next  morning  Nolan  carried  to  the  express 
office  a  box  containing  two  oil-paintings  on  small 
canvases.  They  were  addressed  to  the  man  in 
London  who  attended  to  the  shipping  and  for- 
warding of  Carlton's  pictures  in  that  town. 

There  was  a  tremendous  crowd  on  the  New 
York.  She  sailed  at  the  obliging  hour  of  eleven 
in  the  morning,  and  many  people,  in  consequence, 
whose  affection  would  not  have  stood  in  the  way 
of  their  breakfast,  made  it  a  point  to  appear  and 
to  say  good-by.  Carlton,  for  his  part,  did  not 
notice  them;  he  knew  by  experience  that  the  at- 
tractive-looking people  always  leave  a  steamer 
when  the  whistle  blows,  and  that  the  next  most 
attractive-looking,  who  remain  on  board,  are  ill 
all  the  way  over.  A  man  that  he  knew  seized 
him  by  the  arm  as  he  was  entering  his  cabin,  and 
asked  if  he  were  crossing  or  just  seeing  people 
off. 

"Well,  then,  I  want  to  introduce  you  to  Miss 
Morris  and  her  aunt,  Mrs.  Downs;  they  are  going 
over,  and  I  should  be  glad  if  you  would  be  nice 
to  them.  But  you  know  her,  I  guess  ? "  he  asked, 
over  his  shoulder,  as  Carlton  pushed  his  way 
after  him  down  the  deck. 

"I  know  who  she  is,"  he  said. 
127 


The  Princess  Aline 

Miss  Edith  Morris  was  surrounded  by  a  treble 
circle  of  admiring  friends,  and  seemed  to  be  hold- 
ing her  own.  They  all  stopped  when  Carl  ton 
came  up,  and  looked  at  him  rather  closely,  and 
those  whom  he  knew  seemed  to  mark  the  fact  by 
a  particularly  hearty  greeting.  The  man  who 
had  brought  him  up  acted  as  though  he  had  suc- 
cessfully accomplished  a  somewhat  difficult  and 
creditable  feat.  Carlton  bowed  himself  away, 
leaving  Miss  Morris  to  her  friends,  and  saying 
that  she  would  probably  have  to  see  him  later, 
whether  she  wished  it  or  not.  He  then  went  to 
meet  the  aunt,  who  received  him  kindly,  for  there 
were  very  few  people  on  the  passenger  list,  and 
she  was  glad  they  were  to  have  his  company. 
Before  he  left  she  introduced  him  to  a  young  man 
named  Abbey,  who  was  hovering  around  her 
most  anxiously,  and  whose  interest,  she  seemed  to 
think  it  necessary  to  explain,  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  he  was  engaged  to  Miss  Morris.  Mr.  Abbey 
left  the  steamer  when  the  whistle  blew,  and  Carl- 
ton  looked  after  him  gratefully.  He  always  en- 
joyed meeting  attractive  girls  who  were  engaged, 
as  it  left  him  no  choice  in  the  matter,  and  excused 
him  from  finding  out  whether  or  not  that  particu- 
lar young  woman  was  the  one. 

Mrs.  Downs  and  her  niece  proved  to  be  experi- 
128 


The  Princess  Aline 

enced  sailors,  and  faced  the  heavy  sea  that  met 
the  New  York  outside  of  Sandy  Hook  with  uncon- 
cern. Carl  ton  joined  them,  and  they  stood  to- 
gether leaning  with  their  backs  to  the  rail,  and 
trying  to  fit  the  people  who  flitted  past  them  to 
the  names  on  the  passenger  list. 

"The  young  lady  in  the  sailor  suit,"  said  Miss 
Morris,  gazing  at  the  top  of  the  smoke-stack,  "is 
Miss  Kitty  Flood,  of  Grand  Rapids.  This  is  her 
first  voyage,  and  she  thinks  a  steamer  is  something 
like  a  yacht,  and  dresses  for  the  part  accordingly. 
She  does  not  know  that  it  is  merely  a  moving 
hotel." 

"I  am  afraid,"  said  Carlton,  "to  judge  from 
her  agitation,  that  hers  is  going  to  be  what  the 
>rofessionals  call  a  *  dressing-room'  part.     Why 
it,"  he  asked,  "that  the  girls  on  a  steamer  who 
rear  gold  anchors  and  the  men  in  yachting-caps 
re   always  the   first  to   disappear?    That  man 
ith  the  sombrero,"  he  went  on,  "is  James  M. 
'ollock,  United  States  Consul  to  Mauritius;  he 
is  going  out  to  his  post,     I  know  he  is  the  consul, 
because  he  comes  from  Fort  Worth,  Texas,  and 
is    therefore    admirably    fitted    to    speak    either 
French  or  the  native  language  of  the  island." 

"Oh,  we  don't  send  consuls  to  Mauritius/' 
laughed  Miss  Morris.  "Mauritius  is  one  of  those 

129 


The  Princess  Aline 

places  from  which  you  buy  stamps,  but  no  one 
really  lives  or  goes  there/' 

"Where  are  you  going,  may  I  ask?"  inquired 
Carl  ton. 

Miss  Morris  said  that  they  were  making  their 
way  to  Constantinople  and  Athens,  and  then  to 
Rome;  that  as  they  had  not  had  the  time  to  take 
the  southern  route,  they  purposed  to  journey 
across  the  Continent  direct  from  Paris  to  the 
Turkish  capital  by  the  Orient  Express. 

"We  shall  be  a  few  days  in  London,  and  in 
Paris  only  long  enough  for  some  clothes/'  she 
replied. 

"The  trousseau,"  thought  Carl  ton.  "Weeks 
is  what  she  should  have  said." 

The  three  sat  together  at  the  captain's  table, 
and  as  the  sea  continued  rough,  saw  little  of 
either  the  captain  or  his  other  guests,  and  were 
thrown  much  upon  the  society  of  each  other. 
They  had  innumerable  friends  and  interests  in 
common;  and  Mrs.  Downs,  who  had  been  every- 
where, and  for  long  seasons  at  a  time,  proved  as 
alive  as  her  niece,  and  Carlton  conceived  a  great 
liking  for  her.  She  seemed  to  be  just  and  kindly 
minded,  and,  owing  to  her  age,  to  combine  the 
wider  judgment  of  a  man  with  the  sympathetic 
interest  of  a  woman.  Sometimes  they  sat  to- 

130 


The  Princess  Aline 

gether  in  a  row  and  read,  and  gossiped  over 
what  they  read,  or  struggled  up  the  deck  as  it 
rose  and  fell  and  buffeted  with  the  wind;  and 
later  they  gathered  in  a  corner  of  the  saloon  and 
ate  late  suppers  of  Carlton' s  devising,  or  drank 
tea  in  the  captain's  cabin,  which  he  had  thrown 
open  to  them.  They  had  started  knowing  much 
about  one  another,  and  this  and  the  necessary 
proximity  of  the  ship  hastened  their  acquaint- 
ance. 

The  sea  grew  calmer  the  third  day  out,  and  the 
sun  came  forth  and  showed  the  decks  as  clean  as 
bread-boards.  Miss  Morris  and  Carlton  seated 
themselves  on  the  huge  iron  riding-bits  in  the 
bow,  and  with  their  elbows  on  the  rail  looked 
down  at  the  whirling  blue  water,  and  rejoiced 
silently  in  the  steady  rush  of  the  great  vessel,  and 
in  the  uncertain  warmth  of  the  March  sun.  Carl- 
ton  was  sitting  to  leeward  of  Miss  Morris,  with  a 
pipe  between  his  teeth.  He  was  warm,  and  at 
peace  with  the  world.  He  had  found  his  new 
acquaintance  more  than  entertaining.  She  was 
even  friendly,  and  treated  him  as  though  he  were 
much  her  junior,  as  is  the  habit  of  young  women 
lately  married  or  who  are  about  to  be  married. 
Carlton  did  not  resent  it;  on  the  contrary,  it  made 
him  more  at  his  ease  with  her,  and  as  she  herself 


The  Princess  Aline 

chose  to  treat  him  as  a  youth,  he  permitted  him- 
self to  be  as  foolish  as  he  pleased. 

"I  don't  know  why  it  is,"  he  complained,  peer- 
ing over  the  rail,  "but  whenever  I  look  over  the 
side  to  watch  the  waves  a  man  in  a  greasy  cap 
always  sticks  his  head  out  of  a  hole  below  me  and 
scatters  a  barrelful  of  ashes  or  potato  peelings  all 
over  the  ocean.  It  spoils  the  effect  for  one. 
Next  time  he  does  it  I  am  going  to  knock  out  the 
ashes  of  my  pipe  on  the  back  of  his  neck."  Miss 
Morris  did  not  consider  this  worthy  of  comment, 
and  there  was  a  long  lazy  pause. 

"You  haven't  told  us  where  you  go  after  Lon- 
don," she  said;  and  then,  without  waiting  for  him 
to  reply,  she  asked,  "Is  it  your  professional  or 
your  social  side  that  you  are  treating  to  a  trip 
this  time  ? " 

"Who  told  you  that?"  asked  Carlton,  smiling. 

"Oh,  I  don't  know.  Some  man.  He  said 
you  were  a  Jekyll  and  Hyde.  Which  is  Jekyll  ? 
You  see,  I  only  know  your  professional  side." 

"You  must  try  to  find  out  for  yourself  by  de- 
duction," he  said,  "as  you  picked  out  the  other 
passengers.  I  am  going  to  Grasse,"  he  con- 
tinued. "It's  the  capital  of  Hohenwald.  Do 
you  know  it?" 

"Yes,"  she  said  ;  "we  were  there  once  for  a  few 
132 


The  Princess  Aline 

days.  We  went  to  see  the  pictures.  I  suppose 
you  know  that  the  old  Duke,  the  father  of  the 
present  one,  ruined  himself  almost  by  buying 
pictures  for  the  Grasse  gallery.  We  were  there 
at  a  bad  time,  though,  when  the  palace  was  closed 
to  visitors,  and  the  gallery  too.  I  suppose  that  is 
what  is  taking  you  there?" 

"No,"  Carlton  said,  shaking  his  head.  "No, 
it  is  not  the  pictures.  I  am  going  to  Grasse,"  he 
said,  gravely,  "to  see  the  young  woman  with 
whom  I  am  in  love." 

Miss  Morris  looked  up  in  some  surprise,  and 
smiled  consciously,  with  a  natural  feminine  inter- 
est in  an  affair  of  love,  and  one  which  was  a 
secret  as  well. 

"Oh,"  she  said,  "I  beg  your  pardon;  we — I 
had  not  heard  of  it." 

"No,  it  is  not  a  thing  one  could  announce 
exactly,"  said  Carlton;  "it  is  rather  in  an  embyro 
state  as  yet — in  fact,  I  have  not  met  the  young 
lady  so  far,  but  I  mean  to  meet  her.  That's  why 
I  am  going  abroad." 

Miss  Morris  looked  at  him  sharply  to  see  if  he 
were  smiling,  but  he  was,  on  the  contrary,  gazing 
sentimentally  at  the  horizon-line,  and  puffing  med- 
itatively on  his  pipe.  He  was  apparently  in  earnest, 
and  waiting  for  her  to  make  some  comment.  . 


The  Princess  Aline 

"How  very  interesting!"  was  all  she  could 
think  to  say. 

"Yes,  when  you  know  the  details,  it  is, — very 
interesting,"  he  answered.  "She  is  the  Princess 
Aline  of  Hohenwald,"  he  explained,  bowing  his 
head  as  though  he  were  making  the  two  young 
ladies  known  to  one  another.  "She  has  several 
other  names,  six  in  all,  and  her  age  is  twenty-two. 
That  is  all  I  know  about  her.  I  saw  her  picture 
in  an  illustrated  paper  just  before  I  sailed,  and  I 
made  up  my  mind  I  would  meet  her,  and  here  I 
am.  If  she  is  not  in  Grasse,  I  intend  to  follow 
her  to  wherever  she  may  be."  He  waved  his  pipe 
at  the  ocean  before  him,  and  recited,  with  mock 
seriousness: 

'  *  Across  the  hills  and  far  away, 

Beyond  their  utmost  purple  rim, 
And  deep  into  the  dying  day, 

The  happy  Princess  followed  him.' 

"Only  in  this  case,  you  see,"  said  Carlton,  "I 
am  following  the  happy  Princess." 

"No;  but  seriously,  though,"  said  Miss  Morris, 
"what  is  it  you  mean?  Are  you  going  to  paint 
her  portrait  ? " 

"I  never  thought  of  that/'  exclaimed  Carlton. 
"I  don't  know  but  what  your  idea  is  a  good  one. 


The  Princess  Aline 

Miss  Morris,  that's  a  great  idea."  He  shook  his 
head  approvingly.  "I  did  not  do  wrong  to  con- 
fide in  you,"  he  said.  "It  was  perhaps  taking  a 
liberty;  but  as  you  have  not  considered  it  as  such, 
I  am  glad  I  spoke." 

"But  you  don't  really  mean  to  tell  me,"  ex- 
claimed the  girl,  facing  about,  and  nodding  her 
head  at  him,  "that  you  are  going  abroad  after  a 
woman  whom  you  have  never  seen,  and  because 
you  like  a  picture  of  her  in  a  paper  ?" 

"I  do,"  said  Carlton.  "Because  I  like  her 
picture,  and  because  she  is  a  Princess." 

"Well,  upon  my  word,"  said  Miss  Morris, 
gazing  at  him  with  evident  admiration,  "that's 
what  my  younger  brother  would  call  a  distinctly 
sporting  proposition.  Only  I  don't  see,"  she 
added,  "what  her  being  a  Princess  has  to  do  with 


it." 


"  You  don't  ?"  laughed  Carlton  easily.  "That's 
the  best  part  of  it — that's  the  plot.  The  beauty 
of  being  in  love  with  a  Princess,  Miss  Morris,"  he 
said,  "lies  in  the  fact  that  you  can't  marry  her; 
that  you  can  love  her  deeply  and  forever,  and 
nobody  will  ever  come  to  you  and  ask  your  in- 
tentions, or  hint  that  after  such  a  display  of 
affection  you  ought  to  do  something.  Now,  with 
a  girl  who  is  not  a  Princess,  even  if  she  under- 


The  Princess  Aline 

stands  the  situation  herself,  and  wouldn't  marry 
you  to  save  her  life,  still  there  is  always  some  one 
— a  father,  or  a  mother,  or  one  of  your  friends — 
who  makes  it  his  business  to  interfere,  and  talks 
about  it,  and  bothers  you  both.  But  with  a  Prin- 
cess, you  see,  that  is  all  eliminated.  You  can't 
marry  a  Princess,  because  they  won't  let  you.  A 
Princess  has  got  to  marry  a  real  royal  chap,  and 
so  you  are  perfectly  ineligible  and  free  to  sigh  for 
her,  and  make  pretty  speeches  to  her,  and  see  her 
as  often  as  you  can,  and  revel  in  your  devotion 
and  unrequited  affection." 

Miss  Morris  regarded  him  doubtfully.  She  did 
not  wish  to  prove  herself  too  credulous.  "And 
you  honestly  want  me,  Mr.  Carlton,  to  believe 
that  you  are  going  abroad  just  for  this  ?" 

"You  see,"  Carlton  answered  her,  "if  you  only 
knew  me  better  you  would  have  no  doubt  on  the 
subject  at  all.  It  isn't  the  thing  some  men  would 
do,  I  admit,  but  it  is  exactly  what  any  one  who 
knows  me  would  expect  of  me.  I  should  describe 
it,  having  had  acquaintance  with  the  young  man 
for  some  time,  as  being  eminently  characteristic. 
And  besides,  think  what  a  good  story  it  makes! 
Every  other  man  who  goes  abroad  this  summer 
will  try  to  tell  about  his  travels  when  he  gets  back 
to  New  York,  and,  as  usual,  no  one  will  listen  to 

136 


The  Princess  Aline 

him.  But  they  will  have  to  listen  to  me.  'You've 
been  across  since  I  saw  you  last.  What  did  you 
do  ? '  they'll  ask,  politely.  And  then,  instead  of 
simply  telling  them  that  I  have  been  in  Paris  or 
London,  I  can  say,  'Oh,  I've  been  chasing  around 
the  globe  after  the  Princess  Aline  of  Hohenwald.' 
That  sounds  interesting,  doesn't  it?  When  you 
come  to  think  of  it,"  Carlton  continued,  medita- 
tively, "it  is  not  so  very  remarkable.  Men  go  all 
the  way  to  Cuba  and  Mexico,  and  even  to  India, 
after  orchids,  after  a  nasty  flower  that  grows  in  an 
absurd  way  on  the  top  of  a  tree.  Why  shouldn't 
a  young  man  go  as  far  as  Germany  after  a  beauti- 
ful Princess,  who  walks  on  the  ground,  and  who 
can  talk  and  think  and  feel  ?  She  is  much  more 
worth  while  than  an  orchid." 

Miss  Morris  laughed  indulgently.  "Well,  I 
didn't  know  such  devotion  existed  at  this  end  of 
the  century,"  she  said;  "it's  quite  nice  and  en- 
couraging. I  hope  you  will  succeed,  I  am  sure. 
I  only  wish  we  were  going  to  be  near  enough  to 
see  how  you  get  on.  I  have  never  been  a  confi- 
dante when  there  was  a  real  Princess  concerned," 
she  said;  "it  makes  it  so  much  more  amusing. 
May  one  ask  what  your  plans  are  ? " 

Carlton  doubted  if  he  had  any  plans  as  yet. 
"I  have  to  reach  the  ground  first/'  he  said,  "and 


The  Princess  Aline 

after  that  I  must  reconnoitre.  I  may  possibly 
adopt  your  idea,  and  ask  to  paint  her  portrait, 
only  I  dislike  confusing  my  social  and  profes- 
sional sides.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  though,"  he 
said,  after  a  pause,  laughing  guiltily,  "I  have  done 
a  little  of  that  already.  I  prepared  her,  as  it 
were,  for  my  coming.  I  sent  her  studies  of  two 
pictures  I  made  last  winter  in  Berlin.  One  of 
the  Prime  Minister,  and  one  of  Ludwig,  the 
tragedian  at  the  Court  Theatre.  I  sent  them  to 
her  through  my  London  agent,  so  that  she  would 
think  they  had  come  from  some  one  of  her  Eng- 
lish friends,  and  I  told  the  dealer  not  to  let  any 
one  know  who  had  forwarded  them.  My  idea 
was  that  it  might  help  me,  perhaps,  if  she  knew 
something  about  me  before  I  appeared  in  person. 
It  was  a  sort  of  letter  of  introduction  written  by 
myself." 

"Well,  really,"  expostulated  Miss  Morris,  "you 
certainly  woo  in  a  royal  way.  Are  you  in  the 
habit  of  giving  away  your  pictures  to  any  one 
whose  photograph  you  happen  to  like  ?  That 
seems  to  me  to  be  giving  new  lamps  for  old  to  a 
degree.  I  must  see  if  I  haven't  some  of  my  sis- 
ter's photographs  in  my  trunk.  She  is  consid- 
ered very  beautiful." 

"Well,  you  wait  until  you  see  this  particular 
138 


The  Princess  Aline 

portrait,  and  you  will  understand  it  better,"  said 
Carl  ton. 

The  steamer  reached  Southampton  early  in  the 
afternoon,  and  Carlton  secured  a  special  com- 
partment on  the  express  to  London  for  Mrs. 
Downs  and  her  niece  and  himself,  with  one  ad- 
joining for  their  maid  and  Nolan.  It  was  a  beau- 
tiful day,  and  Carlton  sat  with  his  eyes  fixed  upon 
the  passing  fields  and  villages,  exclaiming  with 
pleasure  from  time  to  time  at  the  white  roads  and 
the  feathery  trees  and  hedges,  and  the  red  roofs 
of  the  inns  and  square  towers  of  the  village 
churches. 

"Hedges  are  better  than  barbed-wire  fences, 
aren't  they?"  he  said.  "You  see  that  girl  pick- 
ing wild  flowers  from  one  of  them  ?  She  looks 
just  as  though  she  were  posing  for  a  picture  for 
an  illustrated  paper.  She  couldn't  pick  flowers 
from  a  barbed-wire  fence,  could  she  ?  And  there 
would  probably  be  a  tramp  along  the  road  some- 
where to  frighten  her;  and  see — the  chap  in 
knickerbockers  farther  down  the  road  leaning  on 
the  stile.  I  am  sure  he  is  waiting  for  her;  and 
here  comes  a  coach,"  he  ran  on.  "Don't  the  red 
wheels  look  well  against  the  hedges  ?  It's  a 
pretty  little  country,  England,  isn't  it? — like  a 
private  park  or  a  model  village.  I  am  glad  to 


The  Princess  Aline 

get  back  to  it — I  am  glad  to  see  the  three-and-six 
signs  with  the  little  slanting  dash  between  the 
shillings  and  pennies.  Yes,  even  the  steam-roll- 
ers and  the  man  with  the  red  flag  in  front  are 
welcome/* 

"I  suppose,"  said  Mrs.  Downs,  "it's  because 
one  has  been  so  long  on  the  ocean  that  the  ride  to 
London  seems  so  interesting.  It  always  pays  me 
for  the  entire  trip.  Yes,"  she  said,  with  a  sigh, 
"in  spite  of  the  patent-medicine  signs  they  have 
taken  to  putting  up  all  along  the  road.  It  seems 
a  pity  they  should  adopt  our  bad  habits  instead 
of  our  good  ones." 

"They  are  a  bit  slow  at  adopting  anything," 
commented  Carlton.  "Did  you  know,  Mrs. 
Downs,  that  electric  lights  are  still  as  scarce  in 
London  as  they  are  in  Timbuctoo  ?  Why,  I  saw 
an  electric-light  plant  put  up  in  a  Western  town 
in  three  days  once;  there  were  over  a  hundred 
burners  in  one  saloon,  and  the  engineer  who  put 
them  up  told  me  in  confidence  that— 

What  the  chief  engineer  told  him  in  confidence 
was  never  disclosed,  for  at  that  moment  Miss 
Morris  interrupted  him  with  a  sudden  sharp 
exclamation. 

"Oh,  Mr.  Carlton,"  she  exclaimed,  breath- 
lessly, "listen  to  this!"  She  had  been  reading 

140 


The  Princess  Aline 

one  of  the  dozen  papers  which  Carlton  had  pur- 
chased at  the  station,  and  was  now  shaking  one 
of  them  at  him,  with  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  open 
page. 

"My  dear  Edith,"  remonstrated  her  aunt, 
"Mr.  Carlton  was  telling  us— 

"Yes,  I  know,"  exclaimed  Miss  Morris,  laugh- 
ing, "but  this  interests  him  much  more  than  elec- 
tric lights.  Who  do  you  think  is  in  London  ?"  she 
cried,  raising  her  eyes  to  his,  and  pausing  for 
proper  dramatic  effect.  "The  Princess  Aline  of 
Hohenwald!" 

"No?"  shouted  Carlton. 

"Yes,"  Miss  Morris  answered,  mocking  his 
tone.  "Listen.  'The  Queen's  Drawing-room' — 
em — e — m — 'on  her  right  was  the  Princess  of 
Wales' — em — m.  Oh,  I  can't  find  it — no — yes, 
here  it  is.  'Next  to  her  stood  the  Princess  Aline 
of  Hohenwald.  She  wore  a  dress  of  white  silk, 
with  train  of  silver  brocade  trimmed  with  fur. 
Ornaments — emeralds  and  diamonds;  orders — 
Victoria  and  Albert,  Jubilee  Commemoration 
Medal,  Coburg  and  Gotha,  and  Hohenwald  and 
Grasse.'  " 

"By  Jove!"  cried  Carlton,  excitedly.  "I  say, 
is  that  really  there  ?  Let  me  see  it,  please,  for 
myself." 

141 


The  Princess  Aline 

Miss  Morris  handed  him  the  paper,  with  her 
finger  on  the  paragraph,  and  picking  up  another, 
began  a  search  down  its  columns. 

"You  are  right/'  exclaimed  Carlton,  solemnly; 
"it's  she,  sure  enough.  And  here  I've  been  within 
two  hours  of  her  and  didn't  know  it?" 

Miss  Morris  gave  another  triumphant  cry,  as 
though  she  had  discovered  a  vein  of  gold. 

"Yes,  and  here  she  is  again,"  she  said,  "in  the 
Gentlewoman:  'The  Queen's  dress  was  of  black, 
as  usual,  but  relieved  by  a  few  violet  ribbons  in 
the  bonnet;  and  Princess  Beatrice,  who  sat  by  her 
mother's  side,  showed  but  little  trace  of  the  anx- 
iety caused  by  Princess  Ena's  accident.  Princess 
Aline,  on  the  front  seat,  in  a  light-brown  jacket 
and  a  becoming  bonnet,  gave  the  necessary  touch 
to  a  picture  which  Londoners  would  be  glad  to 
look  upon  more  often.' ' 

Carlton  sat  staring  forward,  with  his  hands  on 
his  knees,  and  with  his  eyes  open  wide  from  ex- 
citement. He  presented  so  unusual  an  appear- 
ance of  bewilderment  and  delight  that  Mrs. 
Downs  looked  at  him  and  at  her  niece  for  some 
explanation.  "The  young  lady  seems  to  interest 
you,"  said  she,  tentatively. 

"She  is  the  most  charming  creature  in  the 
world,  Mrs.  Downs,"  cried  Carlton,  "and  I  was 

142 


:Next  to  her  stood  the  Princess  Aline  of 
Hohenwald" 


The  Princess  Aline 

going  all  the  way  to  Grasse  to  see  her,  and  now  it 
turns  out  that  she  is  here  in  England,  within  a 
few  miles  of  us."  He  turned  and  waved  his 
hands  at  the  passing  landscape.  "Every  minute 
brings  us  nearer  together." 

"And  you  didn't  feel  it  in  the  air!"  mocked 
Miss  Morris,  laughing.  "You  are  a  pretty  poor 
sort  of  a  man  to  let  a  girl  tell  you  where  to  find  the 
woman  you  love." 

Carlton  did  not  answer,  but  stared  at  her  very 
seriously  and  frowned  intently.  "Now  I  have  got 
to  begin  all  over  again  and  readjust  things,"  he 
said.  "We  might  have  guessed  she  would  be  in 
London,  on  account  of  this  royal  wedding.  It  is 
a  great  pity  it  isn't  later  in  the  season,  when  there 
would  be  more  things  going  on  and  more  chances 
of  meeting  her.  Now  they  will  all  be  interested 
in  themselves,  and,  being  extremely  exclusive,  no 
one  who  isn't  a  cousin  to  the  bridegroom  or  an 
Emperor  would  have  any  chance  at  all.  Still,  I 
can  see  her!  I  can  look  at  her,  and  that's  some- 
thing." 

"It  is  better  than  a  photograph,  anyway,"  said 
Miss  Morris. 

"They  will  be  either  at  Buckingham  Palace  or 
at  Windsor,  or  they  will  stop  at  Brown's,"  said 
Carlton.  "All  royalties  go  to  Brown's.  I  don't 

143 


The  Princess  Aline 

know  why,  unless  it  is  because  it  is  so  expensive; 
or  maybe  it  is  expensive  because  royalties  go 
there;  but,  in  any  event,  if  they  are  not  at  the 
palace,  that  is  where  they  will  be,  and  that  is 
where  I  shall  have  to  go  too/' 

When  the  train  drew  up  at  Victoria  Station, 
Carlton  directed  Nolan  to  take  his  things  to 
Brown's  Hotel,  but  not  to  unload  them  until  he 
had  arrived.  Then  he  drove  with  the  ladies  to 
Cox's,  and  saw  them  settled  there.  He  prom- 
ised to  return  at  once  to  dine,  and  to  tell  them 
what  he  had  discovered  in  his  absence.  "  You've 
got  to  help  me  in  this,  Miss  Morris,"  he  said, 
nervously.  "I  am  beginning  to  feel  that  I  am 
not  worthy  of  her." 

"Oh  yes,  you  are!"  she  said,  laughing;  "but 
don't  forget  that  'it's  not  the  lover  who  comes  to 
woo,  but  the  lover's  way  of  wooing,'  and  that 
'faint  heart' — and  the  rest  of  it." 

"Yes,  I  know,"  said  Carlton,  doubtfully;  "but 
it's  a  bit  sudden,  isn't  it?" 

"Oh,  I  am  ashamed  of  you!  You  are  fright- 
ened." 

"No,  not  frightened,  exactly,"  said  the  painter. 
"I  think  it's  just  natural  emotion." 

As  Carlton  turned  into  Albemarle  Street  he 
noticed  a  red  carpet  stretching  from  the  doorway 

144 


The  Princess  Aline 

of  Brown's  Hotel  out  across  the  sidewalk  to  a 
carriage,  and  a  bareheaded  man  bustling  about 
apparently  assisting  several  gentlemen  to  get  into 
it.  This  and  another  carriage  and  Nolan's  four- 
wheeler  blocked  the  way;  but  without  waiting  for 
them  to  move  up,  Carlton  leaned  out  of  his  han- 
som and  called  the  bareheaded  man  to  its  side. 

"Is  the  Duke  of  Hohenwald  stopping  at  your 
hotel?"  he  asked.  The  bareheaded  man  an- 
swered that  he  was. 

"All  right,  Nolan,"  cried  Carlton.  "They  can 
take  in  the  trunks." 

Hearing  this,  the  bareheaded  man  hastened  to 
help  Carlton  to  alight.  "That  was  the  Duke 
who  just  drove  off,  sir;  and  those,"  he  said,  point- 
ing to  three  muffled  figures  who  were  stepping 
into  a  second  carriage,  "are  his  sisters,  the  Prin- 


cesses." 


Carlton  stopped  midway,  with  one  foot  on  the 
step  and  the  other  in  the  air. 

"The  deuce  they  are!"  he  exclaimed;  "and 
which  is—  '  he  began,  eagerly,  and  then  remem- 
bering himself,  dropped  back  on  the  cushions  of 
the  hansom. 

He  broke  into  the  little  dining-room  at  Cox's 
in  so  excited  a  state  that  two  dignified  old  gentle- 
men who  were  eating  there  sat  open-mouthed  in 


The  Princess  Aline 

astonished  disapproval.  Mrs.  Downs  and  Miss 
Morris  had  just  come  down  stairs. 

"I  have  seen  her!"  Carlton  cried,  ecstatically; 
"only  half  an  hour  in  the  town,  and  Fve  seen  her 
already!" 

"No,  really?"  exclaimed  Miss  Morris.  "And 
how  did  she  look  ?  Is  she  as  beautiful  as  you 
expected?" 

"Well,  I  can't  tell  yet,"  Carlton  answered. 
"There  were  three  of  them,  and  they  were  all 
muffled  up,  and  which  one  of  the  three  she  was  I 
don't  know.  She  wasn't  labelled,  as  in  the  pic- 
ture, but  she  was  there,  and  I  saw  her.  The 
woman  I  love  was  one  of  that  three,  and  I  have 
engaged  rooms  at  the  hotel,  and  this  very  night 
the  same  roof  shelters  us  both." 


146 


II 


"^T^HE    course    of    true    love    certainly    runs 

A  smoothly  with  you,"  said  Miss  Morris,  as 
they  seated  themselves  at  the  table.  "What  is 
your  next  move  ?  What  do  you  mean  to  do 
now?" 

"The  rest  is  very  simple,"  said  Carlton.  "To- 
morrow morning  I  will  go  to  the  Row;  I  will  be 
sure  to  find  some  one  there  who  knows  all  about 
them — where  they  are  going,  and  who  they  are 
seeing,  and  what  engagements  they  may  have. 
Then  it  will  only  be  a  matter  of  looking  up  some 
friend  in  the  Household  or  in  one  of  the  embassies 
who  can  present  me." 

"Oh,"  said  Miss  Morris,  in  the  tone  of  keenest 
disappointment,  "but  that  is  such  a  common- 
place ending!  You  started  out  so  romantically. 
Couldn't  you  manage  to  meet  her  in  a  less  con- 
ventional way  ?" 

"I  am  afraid  not,"  said  Carlton.  "You  see,  I 
want  to  meet  her  very  much,  and  to  meet  her 
very  soon,  and  the  quickest  way  of  meeting  her, 

147 


The  Princess  Aline 

whether  it's  romantic  or  not,  isn't  a  bit  too  quick 
for  me.  There  will  be  romance  enough  after  I 
am  presented,  if  I  have  my  way." 

But  Carlton  was  not  to  have  his  way,  for  he 
had  overlooked  the  fact  that  it  requires  as  many 
to  make  an  introduction  as  a  bargain,  and  he  had 
left  the  Duke  of  Hohenwald  out  of  his  considera- 
tions. He  met  many  people  he  knew  in  the  Row 
the  next  morning;  they  asked  him  to  lunch,  and 
brought  their  horses  up  to  the  rail,  and  he  patted 
the  horses'  heads,  and  led  the  conversation  around 
to  the  royal  wedding,  and  through  it  to  the  Ho- 
henwalds.  He  learned  that  they  had  attended  a 
reception  at  the  German  Embassy  on  the  pre- 
vious night,  and  it  was  one  of  the  secretaries  of 
that  embassy  who  informed  him  of  their  intended 
departure  that  morning  on  the  eleven  o'clock 
train  to  Paris. 

"To  Paris!"  cried  Carlton,  in  consternation. 
"What!  all  of  them?" 

"Yes,  all  of  them,  of  course.  Why?"  asked 
the  young  German.  But  Carlton  was  already 
dodging  across  the  tan-bark  to  Piccadilly  and 
waving  his  stick  at  a  hansom. 

Nolan  met  him  at  the  door  of  Brown's  Hotel 
with  an  anxious  countenance. 

"Their  Royal  Highnesses  have  gone,  sir,"  he 
148 


The  Princess  Aline 

said.  "But  I've  packed  your  trunks  and  sent 
them  to  the  station.  Shall  I  follow  them,  sir?" 

"Yes,"  said  Carlton.  "Follow  the  trunks  and 
follow  the  Hohenwalds.  I  will  come  over  on  the 
Club  train  at  four.  Meet  me  at  the  station,  and 
tell  me  to  what  hotel  they  have  gone.  Wait;  if 
I  miss  you,  you  can  find  me  at  the  Hotel  Conti- 
nental; but  if  they  go  straight  on  through  Paris, 
you  go  with  them,  and  telegraph  me  here  and 
to  the  Continental.  Telegraph  at  every  station, 
so  I  can  keep  track  of  you.  Have  you  enough 
money  ? " 

"I  have,  sir — enough  for  a  long  trip,  sir." 

"Well,  you'll  need  it,"  said  Carlton,  grimly. 
"This  is  going  to  be  a  long  trip.  It  is  twenty 
minutes  to  eleven  now;  you  will  have  to  hurry. 
Have  you  paid  my  bill  here  ? " 

"I  have,  sir,"  said  Nolan. 

"Then  get  off,  and  don't  lose  sight  of  those 
people  again." 

Carlton  attended  to  several  matters  of  business, 
and  then  lunched  with  Mrs.  Downs  and  her  niece. 
He  had  grown  to  like  them  very  much,  and  was 
sorry  to  lose  sight  of  them,  but  consoled  himself 
by  thinking  he  would  see  them  a  few  days  at  least 
in  Paris.  He  judged  that  he  would  be  there  for 
some  time,  as  he  did  not  think  the  Princess  Aline 

149 


The  Princess  Aline 

and  her  sisters  would  pass  through  that  city  without 
stopping  to  visit  the  shops  on  the  Rue  de  la  Paix. 

"All  women  are  not  princesses,"  he  argued, 
"but  all  princesses  are  women." 

"We  will  be  in  Paris  on  Wednesday,"  Mrs. 
Downs  told  him.  "The  Orient  Express  leaves 
there  twice  a  week,  on  Mondays  and  Thursdays, 
and  we  have  taken  an  apartment  for  next  Thurs- 
day, and  will  go  right  on  to  Constantinople." 

"But  I  thought  you  said  you  had  to  buy  a  lot 
of  clothes  there?"  Carl  ton  expostulated. 

Mrs.  Downs  said  that  they  would  do  that  on 
their  way  home. 

Nolan  met  Carlton  at  the  station,  and  told  him 
that  he  had  followed  the  Hohenwalds  to  the  Hotel 
Meurice.  "There  is  the  Duke,  sir,  and  the  three 
Princesses,"  Nolan  said,  "and  there  are  two 
German  gentlemen  acting  as  equerries,  and  an 
English  captain,  a  sort  of  A.D.C.  to  the  Duke, 
and  two  elderly  ladies,  and  eight  servants.  They 
travel  very  simple,  sir,  and  their  people  are  in 
undress  livery.  Brown  and  red,  sir." 

Carlton  pretended  not  to  listen  to  this.  He 
had  begun  to  doubt  but  that  Nolan's  zeal  would 
lead  him  into  some  indiscretion,  and  would  end 
disastrously  to  himself.  He  spent  the  evening 
alone  in  front  of  the  Cafe  de  la  Paix,  pleasantly 

150 


The  Princess  Aline 

occupied  in  watching  the  life  and  movement  of 
that  great  meeting  of  the  highways.  It  did  not 
seem  possible  that  he  had  ever  been  away.  It 
was  as  though  he  had  picked  up  a  book  and 
opened  it  at  the  page  and  place  at  which  he  had 
left  off  reading  it  a  moment  before.  There  was 
the  same  type,  the  same  plot,  and  the  same  char- 
acters, who  were  doing  the  same  characteristic 
things.  Even  the  waiter  who  tipped  out  his  coffee 
knew  him;  and  he  knew,  or  felt  as  though  he 
knew,  half  of  those  who  passed,  or  who  shared 
with  him  the  half  of  the  sidewalk.  The  women 
at  the  next  table  considered  the  slim,  good-looking 
young  American  with  friendly  curiosity,  and  the 
men  with  them  discussed  him  in  French,  until  a 
well-known  Parisian  recognized  Carlton  in  pass- 
ing, and  hailed  him  joyously  in  the  same  language, 
at  which  the  women  laughed  and  the  men  looked 
sheepishly  conscious. 

On  the  following  morning  Garlton  took  up  his 
post  in  the  open  court  of  the  Meurice,  with  his 
coffee  and  the  Figaro  to  excuse  his  loitering  there. 
He  had  not  been  occupied  with  these  over-long 
before  Nolan  approached  him,  in  some  excite- 
ment, with  the  information  that  their  Royal  High- 
nesses— as  he  delighted  to  call  them — were  at  that 
moment  "coming  down  the  lift." 


The  Princess  Aline 

Carlton  could  hear  their  voices,  and  wished  to 
step  around  the  corner  and  see  them;  it  was  for 
this  chance  he  had  been  waiting;  but  he  could 
not  afford  to  act  in  so  undignified  a  manner  be- 
fore Nolan,  so  he  merely  crossed  his  legs  ner- 
vously, and  told  the  servant  to  go  back  to  the 
rooms. 

"Confound  him!"  he  said;  "I  wish  he  would 
let  me  conduct  my  own  affairs  in  my  own  way. 
If  I  don't  stop  him,  he'll  carry  the  Princess  Aline 
off  by  force  and  send  me  word  where  he  has 
hidden  her." 

The  Hohenwalds  had  evidently  departed  for  a 
day's  outing,  as  up  to  five  o'clock  they  had  not 
returned;  and  Carlton,  after  loitering  all  the  after- 
noon, gave  up  waiting  for  them,  and  went  out  to 
dine  at  Laurent's,  in  the  Champs  Elysees.  He 
had  finished  his  dinner,  and  was  leaning  luxuri- 
ously forward,  with  his  elbows  on  the  table,  and 
knocking  the  cigar  ashes  into  his  coffee-cup.  He 
was  pleasantly  content.  The  trees  hung  heavy 
with  leaves  over  his  head,  a  fountain  played  and 
overflowed  at  his  elbow,  and  the  lamps  of  the 
fiacres  passing  and  repassing  on  the  Avenue  of 
the  Champs  Elysees  shone  like  giant  fire-flies 
through  the  foliage.  The  touch  of  the  gravel 
beneath  his  feet  emphasized  the  free,  out-of-door 

152 


The  Princess  Aline 

charm  of  the  place,  and  the  faces  of  the  others 
around  him  looked  more  than  usually  cheerful  in 
the  light  of  the  candles  flickering  under  the 
clouded  shades.  His  mind  had  gone  back  to  his 
earlier  student  days  in  Paris,  when  life  always 
looked  as  it  did  now  in  the  brief  half-hour  of 
satisfaction  which  followed  a  cold  bath  or  a  good 
dinner,  and  he  had  forgotten  himself  and  his  sur- 
roundings. It  was  the  voices  of  the  people  at 
the  table  behind  him  that  brought  him  back  to 
the  present  moment.  A  man  was  talking;  he 
spoke  in  English,  with  an  accent. 

"I  should  like  to  go  again  through  the  Luxem- 
bourg," he  said;  "but  you  need  not  be  bound  by 
what  I  do." 

"  I  think  it  would  be  pleasanter  if  we  all  keep 
together,"  said  a  girl's  voice,  quietly.  She  also 
spoke  in  English,  and  with  the  same  accent. 

The  people  whose  voices  had  interrupted  him 
were  sitting  and  standing  around  a  long  table, 
which  the  waiters  had  made  large  enough  for  their 
party  by  placing  three  of  the  smaller  ones  side  by 
side;  they  had  finished  their  dinner,  and  the 
women,  who  sat  with  their  backs  toward  Carlton, 
were  pulling  on  their  gloves. 

"Which  is  it  to  be,  then  ?"  said  the  gentleman, 
smiling.  "The  pictures  or  the  dressmakers?" 


The  Princess  Aline 

The  girl  who  had  first  spoken  turned  to  the 
one  next  to  her. 

"Which  would  you  rather  do, Aline  ?"  she  asked. 

Carlton  moved  so  suddenly  that  the  men  be- 
hind him  looked  at  him  curiously;  but  he  turned, 
nevertheless,  in  his  chair  and  faced  them,  and  in 
order  to  excuse  his  doing  so  beckoned  to  one  of 
the  waiters.  He  was  within  two  feet  of  the  girl 
who  had  been  called  "Aline."  She  raised  her 
head  to  speak,  and  saw  Carlton  staring  open- 
eyed  at  her.  She  glanced  at  him  for  an  instant, 
as  if  to  assure  herself  that  she  did  not  know  him, 
and  then,  turning  to  her  brother,  smiled  in  the 
same  tolerant,  amused  way  in  which  she  had  so 
often  smiled  upon  Carlton  from  the  picture. 

"I  am  afraid  I  had  rather  go  to  the  Bon  Mar- 
che/'  she  said. 

One  of  the  waiters  stepped  in  between  them, 
and  Carlton  asked  him  for  his  bill;  but  when  it 
came  he  left  it  lying  on  the  plate,  and  sat  staring 
out  into  the  night  between  the  candles,  puffing 
sharply  on  his  cigar,  and  recalling  to  his  memory 
his  first  sight  of  the  Princess  Aline  of  Hohenwald. 

That  night,  as  he  turned  into  bed,  he  gave  a 
comfortable  sigh  of  content.  "I  am  glad  she 
chose  the  dressmakers  instead  of  the  pictures/' 
he  said. 


The  Princess  Aline 

Mrs.  Downs  and  Miss  Morris  arrived  in  Paris 
on  Wednesday,  and  expressed  their  anxiety  to 
have  Carlton  lunch  with  them,  and  to  hear  him 
tell  of  the  progress  of  his  love-affair.  There  was 
not  much  to  tell;  the  Hohenwalds  had  come  and 
gone  from  the  hotel  as  freely  as  any  other  tourists 
in  Paris,  but  the  very  lack  of  ceremony  about  their 
movements  was  in  itself  a  difficulty.  The  man- 
ner of  acquaintance  he  could  make  in  the  court  of 
the  Hotel  Meurice  with  one  of  the  men  over  a  cup 
of  coffee  or  a  glass  of  bock  would  be  as  readily 
discontinued  as  begun,  and  for  his  purpose  it 
would  have  been  much  better  if  the  Hohenwalds 
had  been  living  in  state  with  a  visitors'  book  and 
a  chamberlain. 

On  Wednesday  evening  Carlton  took  the  ladies 
to  the  opera,  where  the  Hohenwalds  occupied  a 
box  immediately  opposite  them.  Carlton  pre- 
tended to  be  surprised  at  this  fact,  but  Mrs. 
Downs  doubted  his  sincerity. 

"I  saw  Nolan  talking  to  their  courier  to-day," 
she  said,  "and  I  fancy  he  asked  a  few  leading 
questions." 

"Well,  he  didn't  learn  much  if  he  did,"  he  said. 
"The  fellow  only  talks  German." 

"Ah,  then  he  has  been  asking  questions !"  said 
Miss  Morris. 


The  Princess  Aline 

"Well,  he  does  it  on  his  own  responsibility," 
said  Carlton,  "for  I  told  him  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  servants.  He  has  too  much  zeal,  has 
Nolan;  Fm  afraid  of  him." 

"If  you  were  only  half  as  interested  as  he  is," 
said  Miss  Morris,  "you  would  have  known  her 
long  ago." 

"Long  ago  ?"  exclaimed  Carlton.  "I  only  saw 
her  four  days  since." 

"She  is  certainly  very  beautiful,"  said  Miss 
Morris,  looking  across  the  auditorium. 

"But  she  isn't  there,"  said  Carlton.  "That's 
the  eldest  sister;  the  two  other  sisters  went  out 
on  the  coach  this  morning  to  Versailles,  and  were 
too  tired  to  come  to-night.  At  least,  so  Nolan 
says.  He  seems  to  have  established  a  friendship 
for  their  English  maid,  but  whether  it's  on  my 
account  or  his  own  I  don't  know.  I  doubt  his 
unselfishness." 

"How  disappointing  of  her!"  said  Miss  Morris. 
"And  after  you  had  selected  a  box  just  across  the 
way,  too.  It  is  such  a  pity  to  waste  it  on  us." 
Carlton  smiled,  and  looked  up  at  her  impudently, 
as  though  he  meant  to  say  something;  but  re- 
membering that  she  was  engaged  to  be  married, 
changed  his  mind,  and  lowered  his  eyes  to  his 
programme. 

156 


The  Princess  Aline 

"Why  didn't  you  say  it?"  asked  Miss  Morris, 
calmly,  turning  her  glass  to  the  stage.  "Wasn't 
it  pretty?" 

"No,"  said  Carlton — "not  pretty  enough." 

The  ladies  left  the  hotel  the  next  day  to  take 
the  Orient  Express,  which  left  Paris  at  six  o'clock. 
They  had  bidden  Carlton  good-by  at  four  the 
same  afternoon,  and  as  he  had  come  to  their 
rooms  for  that  purpose,  they  were  in  consequence 
a  little  surprised  to  see  him  at  the  station,  running 
wildly  along  the  platform,  followed  by  Nolan  and 
a  porter.  He  came  into  their  compartment  after 
the  train  had  started,  and  shook  his  head  sadly  at 
them  from  the  door. 

"Well,  what  do  you  think  of  this?"  he  said. 
"You  can't  get  rid  of  me,  you  see.  I'm  going 
with  you." 

"Going  with  us?"  asked  Mrs.  Downs.  "How 
far?" 

Carlton  laughed,  and,  coming  inside,  dropped 
onto  the  cushions  with  a  sigh.  "I  don't  know," 
he  said,  dejectedly.  "All  the  way,  I'm  afraid. 
That  is,  I  mean,  I'm  very  glad  I  am  to  have  your 
society  for  a  few  days  more;  but  really  I  didn't 
bargain  for  this." 

"You  don't  mean  to  tell  me  that  they  are  on 
this  train  ? "  said  Miss  Morris. 


The  Princess  Aline 

"They  are,"  said  Carl  ton.  "They  have  a  car 
to  themselves  at  the  rear.  They  only  made  up 
their  minds  to  go  this  morning,  and  they  nearly 
succeeded  in  giving  me  the  slip  again;  but  it  seems 
that  their  English  maid  stopped  Nolan  in  the  hall 
to  bid  him  good-by,  and  so  he  found  out  their 
plans.  They  are  going  direct  to  Constantinople, 
and  then  to  Athens.  They  had  meant  to  stay  in 
Paris  two  weeks  longer,  it  seems,  but  they  changed 
their  minds  last  night.  It  was  a  very  close  shave 
for  me.  I  only  got  back  to  the  hotel  in  time  to 
hear  from  the  concierge  that  Nolan  had  flown 
with  all  of  my  things,  and  left  word  for  me  to 
follow.  Just  fancy!  Suppose  I  had  missed  the 
train,  and  had  had  to  chase  him  clear  across  the 
continent  of  Europe  with  not  even  a  razor " 

"I  am  glad,"  said  Miss  Morris,  "that  Nolan 
has  not  taken  a  fancy  to  me.  I  doubt  if  I  could 
resist  such  impetuosity." 

The  Orient  Express,  in  which  Carlton  and  the 
mistress  of  his  heart  and  fancy  were  speeding 
toward  the  horizon's  utmost  purple  rim,  was 
made  up  of  six  cars,  one  dining-car  with  a  smok- 
ing-apartment  attached,  and  five  sleeping-cars,  in- 
cluding the  one  reserved  for  the  Duke  of  Hohen- 
wald  and  his  suite.  These  cars  were  lightly  built, 
and  rocked  in  consequence,  and  the  dust  raised 

158 


The  Princess  Aline 

by  the  rapid  movement  of  the  train  swept  through 
cracks  and  open  windows,  and  sprinkled  the  pas- 
sengers with  a  fine  and  irritating  coating  of  soot 
and  earth.  There  was  one  servant  to  the  en- 
tire twenty-two  passengers.  He  spoke  eight  lan- 
guages, and  never  slept;  but  as  his  services  were 
in  demand  by  several  people  in  as  many  different 
cars  at  the  same  moment  he  satisfied  no  one,  and 
the  complaint-box  in  the  smoking-car  was  stuffed 
full  to  the  slot  in  consequence  before  they  had 
crossed  the  borders  of  France. 

Carlton  and  Miss  Morris  went  out  upon  one  of 
the  platforms  and  sat  down  upon  a  tool-box.  "  It 
isn't  as  comfortable  here  as  in  an  observation-car 
at  home,"  said  Carlton,  "but  it's  just  as  noisy." 

He  pointed  out  to  her  from  time  to  time  the 
peasants  gathering  twigs,  and  the  blue-bloused 
gendarmes  guarding  the  woods  and  the  fences 
skirting  them.  "Nothing  is  allowed  to  go  to 
waste  in  this  country,"  he  said.  "It  looks  as 
though  they  went  over  it  once  a  month  with  a 
lawn-mower  and  a  pruning-knife.  I  believe  they 
number  the  trees  as  we  number  the  houses." 

"And  did  you  notice  the  great  fortifications 
covered  with  grass  ?"  she  said.  "We  have  passed 
such  a  lot  of  them." 

Carlton  nodded. 


The  Princess  Aline 

"And  did  you  notice  that  they  all  faced  only 
one  way?" 

Carlton  laughed,  and  nodded  again.  "Tow- 
ard Germany/'  he  said. 

By  the  next  day  they  had  left  the  tall  poplars 
and  white  roads  behind  them,  and  were  crossing 
the  land  of  low  shiny  black  helmets  and  brass 
spikes.  They  had  come  into  a  country  of  low 
mountains  and  black  forests,  with  old  fortified 
castles  topping  the  hills,  and  with  red-roofed  vil- 
lages scattered  around  the  base. 

"How  very  military  it  all  is!"  Mrs.  Downs  said. 
"Even  the  men  at  the  lonely  little  stations  in  the 
forests  wear  uniforms;  and  do  you  notice  how 
each  of  them  rolls  up  his  red  flag  and  holds  it 
like  a  sword,  and  salutes  the  train  as  it  passes  ?" 

They  spent  the  hour  during  which  the  train 
shifted  from  one  station  in  Vienna  to  the  other 
driving  about  in  an  open  carriage,  and  stopped 
for  a  few  moments  in  front  of  a  cafe  to  drink  beer 
and  to  feel  solid  earth  under  them  again,  return- 
ing to  the  train  with  a  feeling  which  was  almost 
that  of  getting  back  to  their  own  rooms.  Then 
they  came  to  great  steppes  covered  with  long 
thick  grass,  and  flooded  in  places  with  little  lakes 
of  broken  ice;  great  horned  cattle  stood  knee-deep 
in  this  grass,  and  at  the  villages  and  way-stations 

160 


The  Princess  Aline 

were  people  wearing  sheepskin  jackets  and  waist- 
coats covered  with  silver  buttons.  In  one  place 
there  was  a  wedding  procession  waiting  for  the 
train  to  pass,  with  the  friends  of  the  bride  and 
groom  in  their  best  clothes,  the  women  with  silver 
breastplates,  and  boots  to  their  knees.  It  seemed 
hardly  possible  that  only  two  days  before  they 
had  seen  another  wedding  party  in  the  Champs 
Elysees,  where  the  men  wore  evening  dress,  and 
the  women  were  bareheaded  and  with  long  trains. 
In  forty-eight  hours  they  had  passed  through 
republics,  principalities,  empires,  and  kingdoms, 
and  from  spring  to  winter.  It  was  like  walking 
rapidly  over  a  painted  panorama  of  Europe. 

On  the  second  evening  Carlton  went  off  into 
the  smoking-car  alone.  The  Duke  of  Hohen- 
wald  and  two  of  his  friends  had  finished  a  late 
supper,  and  were  seated  in  the  apartment  adjoin- 
ing it.  The  Duke  was  a  young  man  with  a  heavy 
beard  and  eye-glasses.  He  was  looking  over  an 
illustrated  catalogue  of  the  Salon,  and  as  Carlton 
dropped  on  the  sofa  opposite  the  Duke  raised  his 
head  and  looked  at  him  curiously,  and  then 
turned  over  several  pages  of  the  catalogue  and 
studied  one  of  them,  and  then  back  at  Carlton,  as 
though  he  were  comparing  him  with  something 
on  the  page  before  him.  Carlton  was  looking 

161 


The  Princess  Aline 

out  at  the  night,  but  he  could  follow  what  was 
going  forward,  as  it  was  reflected  in  the  glass  of 
the  car  window.  He  saw  the  Duke  hand  the 
catalogue  to  one  of  the  equerries,  who  raised  his 
eyebrows  and  nodded  his  head  in  assent.  Carl- 
ton  wondered  what  this  might  mean,  until  he 
remembered  that  there  was  a  portrait  of  himself 
by  a  French  artist  in  the  Salon,  and  concluded  it 
had  been  reproduced  in  the  catalogue.  He  could 
think  of  nothing  else  which  would  explain  the 
interest  the  two  men  showed  in  him.  On  the 
morning  following  he  sent  Nolan  out  to  pur- 
chase a  catalogue  at  the  first  station  at  which  they 
stopped,  and  found  that  his  guess  was  a  correct 
one.  A  portrait  of  himself  had  been  reproduced 
in  black  and  white,  with  his  name  below  it. 

"Well,  they  know  who  I  am  now,"  he  said  to 
Miss  Morris,  "even  if  they  don't  know  me.  That 
honor  is  still  in  store  for  them/' 

"I  wish  they  did  not  lock  themselves  up  so 
tightly,"  said  Miss  Morris.  "I  want  to  see  her 
very  much.  Cannot  we  walk  up  and  down  the 
platform  at  the  next  station  ?  She  may  be  at 
the  window." 

"Of  course,"  said  Carlton.  "You  could  have 
seen  her  at  Buda-Pesth  if  you  had  spoken  of  it. 
She  was  walking  up  and  down  then.  The  next 

162 


The  Princess  Aline 

time  the  train  stops  we  will  prowl  up  and  down 
and  feast  our  eyes  upon  her." 

But  Miss  Morris  had  her  wish  gratified  without 
that  exertion.  The  Hohenwalds  were  served  in 
the  dining-car  after  the  other  passengers  had 
finished,  and  were  in  consequence  only  to  be 
seen  when  they  passed  by  the  doors  of  the  other 
compartments.  But  this  same  morning,  after 
luncheon,  the  three  Princesses,  instead  of  return- 
ing to  their  own  car,  seated  themselves  in  the 
compartment  adjoining  the  dining-car,  while  the 
men  of  their  party  lit  their  cigars  and  sat  in  a 
circle  around  them. 

"I  was  wondering  how  long  they  could  stand 
three  men  smoking  in  one  of  the  boxes  they  call 
cars,"  said  Mrs.  Downs.  She  was  seated  be- 
tween Miss  Morris  and  Carlton,  directly  opposite 
the  Hohenwalds,  and  so  near  them  that  she  had 
to  speak  in  a  whisper.  To  avoid  doing  this  Miss 
Morris  asked  Carlton  for  a  pencil,  and  scribbled 
with  it  in  the  novel  she  held  on  her  lap.  Then 
she  passed  them  both  back  to  him,  and  said, 
aloud:  "Have  you  read  this?  It  has  such  a 
pretty  dedication."  The  dedication  read,  "Which 
is  Aline  ? "  And  Carlton,  taking  the  pencil  in 
his  turn,  made  a  rapid  sketch  of  her  on  the  fly- 
leaf, and  wrote  beneath  it:  "This  is  she.  Do  you 

163 


The  Princess  Aline 

wonder  I  travelled  four  thousand  miles  to  see 
her?" 

Miss  Morris  took  the  book  again,  and  glanced 
at  the  sketch,  and  then  at  the  three  Princesses, 
and  nodded  her  head.  "It  is  very  beautiful,"  she 
said,  gravely,  looking  out  at  the  passing  landscape. 

"Well,  not  beautiful  exactly,"  answered  Carl- 
ton,  surveying  the  hills  critically,  "but  certainly 
very  attractive.  It  is  worth  travelling  a  long  way 
to  see,  and  I  should  think  one  would  grow  very 
fond  of  it." 

Miss  Morris  tore  the  fly-leaf  out  of  the  book, 
and  slipped  it  between  the  pages.  "May  I  keep 
it?"  she  said.  Carlton  nodded.  "And  will  you 
sign  it?"  she  asked,  smiling.  Carlton  shrugged 
his  shoulders,  and  laughed.  "If  you  wish  it," 
he  answered. 

The  Princess  wore  a  gray  cheviot  travelling 
dress,  as  did  her  sisters,  and  a  gray  Alpine  hat. 
She  was  leaning  back,  talking  to  the  English 
captain  who  accompanied  them,  and  laughing. 
Carlton  thought  he  had  never  seen  a  woman 
who  appealed  so  strongly  to  every  taste  of  which 
he  was  possessed.  She  seemed  so  sure  of  herself, 
so  alert,  and  yet  so  gracious,  so  easily  entertained, 
and  yet,  when  she  turned  her  eyes  toward  the 
strange,  dismal  landscape,  so  seriously  intent  upon 

164 


"This  is  she.     Do  you  wonder  I  trav- 
elled four  thousand  miles 
to  see  her?" 


The  Princess  Aline 

its  sad  beauty.  The  English  captain  dropped  his 
head,  and  with  the  pretence  of  pulling  at  his 
mustache,  covered  his  mouth  as  he  spoke  to  her. 
When  he  had  finished  he  gazed  consciously  at 
the  roof  of  the  car,  and  she  kept  her  eyes  fixed 
steadily  at  the  object  toward  which  they  had 
turned  when  he  had  ceased  speaking,  and  then, 
after  a  decent  pause,  turned  her  eyes,  as  Carlton 
knew  she  would,  toward  him. 

"He  was  telling  her  who  I  am,"  he  thought, 
"and  about  the  picture  in  the  catalogue." 

In  a  few  moments  she  turned  to  her  sister  and 
spoke  to  her,  pointing  out  at  something  in  the 
scenery,  and  the  same  pantomime  was  repeated, 
and  again  with  the  third  sister. 

"Did  you  see  those  girls  talking  about  you,  Mr. 
Carlton?"  Miss  Morris  asked,  after  they  had 
left  the  car. 

Carlton  said  it  looked  as  though  they  were. 

"Of  course  they  were,"  said  Miss  Morris. 
"That  Englishman  told  the  Princess  Aline  some- 
thing about  you,  and  then  she  told  her  sister, 
and  she  told  the  eldest  one.  It  would  be  nice  if 
they  inherit  their  father's  interest  in  painting, 
wouldn't  it?" 

"I  would  rather  have  it  degenerate  into  an 
interest  in  painters  myself,"  said  Carlton. 

165 


The  Princess  Aline 

Miss  Morris  discovered,  after  she  had  returned 
to  her  own  car,  that  she  had  left  the  novel  where 
she  had  been  sitting,  and  Carlton  sent  Nolan  back 
for  it.  It  had  slipped  to  the  floor,  and  the  fly-leaf 
upon  which  Carlton  had  ske'tched  the  Princess 
Aline  was  lying  face  down  beside  it.  Nolan  picked 
up  the  leaf,  and  saw  the  picture,  and  read  the  in- 
scription below:  "This  is  she.  Do  you  wonder 
I  travelled  four  thousand  miles  to  see  her?" 

He  handed  the  book  to  Miss  Morris,  and 
was  backing  out  of  the  compartment,  when  she 
stopped  him. 

"There  was  a  loose  page  in  this,  Nolan,"  she 
said.  "It's  gone;  did  you  see  it?" 

"A  loose  page,  miss?"  said  Nolan,  with  some 
concern.  "Oh,  yes,  miss;  I  was  going  to  tell 
you;  there  was  a  scrap  of  paper  blew  away  when 
I  was  passing  between  the  carriages.  Was  it 
something  you  wanted,  miss  ? " 

"  Something  I  wanted ! "  exclaimed  Miss  Morris, 
in  dismay. 

Carlton  laughed  easily.  "It  is  just  as  well  I 
didn't  sign  it,  after  all,"  he  said.  "I  don't  want 
to  proclaim  my  devotion  to  any  Hungarian  gypsy 
who  happens  to  read  English." 

"You  must  draw  me  another,  as  a  souvenir," 
Miss  Morris  said. 

166 


The  Princess  Aline 

Nolan  continued  on  through  the  length  of  the 
car  until  he  had  reached  the  one  occupied  by  the 
Hohenwalds,  where  he  waited  on  the  platform 
until  the  English  maid-servant  saw  him  and  came 
to  the  door  of  the  carriage. 

"What  hotel  are  your  people  going  to  stop  at 
in  Constantinople?"  Nolan  asked. 

"The  Grande-Bretagne,  I  think/'  she  answered. 

"That's  right,"  said  Nolan,  approvingly. 
"That's  the  one  we  are  going  to.  I  thought  I 
would  come  and  tell  you  about  it.  And,  by  the 
way,"  he  said,  "here's  a  picture  somebody's 
made  of  your  Princess  Aline.  She  dropped  it, 
and  I  picked  it  up.  You  had  better  give  it  back 
to  her.  Well,"  he  added,  politely,  "  I'm  glad  you 
are  coming  to  our  hotel  in  Constantinople;  it's 
pleasant  having  some  one  to  talk  to  who  can 
speak  your  own  tongue." 

The  girl  returned  to  the  car,  and  left  Nolan 
alone  upon  the  platform.  He  exhaled  a  long 
breath  of  suppressed  excitement,  and  then  gazed 
around  nervously  upon  the  empty  landscape. 

"I  fancy  that's  going  to  hurry  things  up  a 
bit,"  he  murmured,  with  an  anxious  smile;  "he'd 
never  get  along  at  all  if  it  wasn't  for  me." 

For  reasons  possibly  best  understood  by  the 
German  ambassador,  the  state  of  the  Hohenwalds 

167 


The  Princess  Aline 

at  Constantinople  differed  greatly  from  that  which 
had  obtained  at  the  French  capital.  They  no 
longer  came  and  went  as  they  wished,  or  wan- 
dered through  the  show-places  of  the  city  like 
ordinary  tourists.  There  was,  on  the  contrary, 
not  only  a  change  in  their  manner  toward  others, 
but  there  was  an  insistence  on  their  part  of  a  dif- 
ference in  the  attitude  of  others  toward  them- 
selves. This  showed  itself  in  the  reserving  of 
the  half  of  the  hotel  for  their  use,  and  in  the 
haughty  bearing  of  the  equerries,  who  appeared 
unexpectedly  in  magnificent  uniforms.  The  visi- 
tors' book  was  covered  with  the  autographs  of  all 
of  the  important  people  in  the  Turkish  capital, 
and  the  Sultan's  carriages  stood  constantly  before 
the  door  of  the  hotel,  awaiting  their  pleasure, 
until  they  became  as  familiar  a  sight  as  the  street 
dogs,  or  as  cabs  in  a  hansom-cab  rank. 

And  in  following  out.  the  programme  which 
had  been  laid  down  for  her,  the  Princess  Aline 
became  even  less  accessible  to  Carlton  than  be- 
fore, and  he  grew  desperate  and  despondent. 

"  If  the  worst  comes,"  he  said  to  Miss  Morris, 
"  I  shall  tell  Nolan  to  give  an  alarm  of  fire  some 
night,  and  then  I  will  run  in  and  rescue  her 
before  they  find  out  there  is  no  fire.  Or  he  might 
frighten  the  horses  some  day,  and  give  me  a 

168 


The  Princess  Aline 

chance  to  stop  them.  We  might  even  wait  until 
we  reach  Greece,  and  have  her  carried  off  by 
brigands,  who  would  only  give  her  up  to  me." 

"There  are  no  more  brigands  in  Greece,"  said 
Miss  Morris;  "and  besides,  why  do  you  suppose 
they  would  only  give  her  up  to  you  ?" 

"Because  they  would  be  imitation  brigands," 
said  Carlton,  "and  would  be  paid  to  give  her  up 
to  no  one  else." 

"Oh,  you  plan  .very  well,"  scoffed  Miss  Morris, 
"but  you  don't  do  anything." 

Carlton  was  saved  the  necessity  of  doing  any- 
thing that  same  morning,  when  the  English  cap- 
tain in  attendance  on  the  Duke  sent  his  card  to 
Carlton' s  room.  He  came,  he  explained,  to  pre- 
sent the  Prince's  compliments,  and  would  it  be 
convenient  for  Mr.  Carlton  to  meet  the  Duke 
that  afternoon  ?  Mr.  Carlton  suppressed  an  un- 
seemly desire  to  shout,  and  said,  after  a  mo- 
ment's consideration,  that  it  would.  He  then  took 
the  English  captain  downstairs  to  the  smoking- 
room,  and  rewarded  him  for  his  agreeable  mes- 
sage. 

The  Duke  received  Carlton  in  the  afternoon, 
and  greeted  him  most  cordially,  and  with  as 
much  ease  of  manner  as  it  is  possible  for  a  man 
to  possess  who  has  never  enjoyed  the  benefits  of 

169 


The  Princess  Aline 

meeting  other  men  on  an  equal  footing.  He 
expressed  his  pleasure  in  knowing  an  artist  with 
whose  work  he  was  so  familiar,  and  congratulated 
himself  on  the  happy  accident  which  had  brought 
them  both  to  the  same  hotel. 

"I  have  more  than  a  natural  interest  in  meet- 
ing you,"  said  the  Prince,  "and  for  a  reason 
which  you  may  or  may  not  know.  I  thought 
possibly  you  could  help  me  somewhat.  I  have 
within  the  past  few  days  come  into  the  possession 
of  two  of  your  paintings;  they  are  studies,  rather, 
but  to  me  they  are  even  more  desirable  than  the 
finished  work;  and  I  am  not  correct  in  saying 
that  they  have  come  to  me  exactly,  but  to  my 
sister,  the  Princess  Aline." 

Carlton  could  not  withhold  a  certain  start  of 
surprise.  He  had  not  expected  that  his  gift 
would  so  soon  have  arrived,  but  his  face  showed 
only  polite  attention. 

"The  studies  were  delivered  to  us  in  London," 
continued  the  Duke.  "They  are  of  Ludwig  the 
tragedian,  and  of  the  German  Prime  Minister, 
two  most  valuable  works,  and  especially  interest- 
ing to  us.  They  came  without  any  note  or  mes- 
sage which  would  inform  us  who  had  sent  them, 
and  when  my  people  made  inquiries,  the  dealer 
refused  to  tell  them  from  whom  they  had  come. 

170 


The  Princess  Aline 

He  had  been  ordered  to  forward  them  to  Grasse, 
but,  on  learning  of  our  presence  in  London,  sent 
them  direct  to  our  hotel  there.  Of  course  it  is 
embarrassing  to  have  so  valuable  a  present  from 
an  anonymous  friend,  especially  so  for  my  sister, 
to  whom  they  were  addressed,  and  I  thought  that, 
besides  the  pleasure  of  meeting  one  of  whose 
genius  I  am  so  warm  an  admirer,  I  might  also 
learn  something  which  would  enable  me  to  dis- 
cover who  our  friend  may  be."  He  paused,  but 
as  Carlton  said  nothing,  continued:  "As  it  is 
now,  I  do  not  feel  that  I  can  accept  the  pictures; 
and  yet  I  know  no  one  to  whom  they  can  be  re- 
turned, unless  I  send  them  to  the  dealer." 

"It  sounds  very  mysterious,"  said  Carlton, 
smiling;  "and  I  am  afraid  I  cannot  help  you. 
What  work  I  did  in  Germany  was  sold  in  Berlin 
before  I  left,  and  in  a  year  may  have  changed 
hands  several  times.  The  studies  of  which  you 
speak  are  unimportant,  and  merely  studies,  and 
could  pass  from  hand  to  hand  without  much 
record  having  been  kept  of  them;  but  personally 
I  am  not  able  to  give  you  any  information  which 
would  assist  you  in  tracing  them." 

"Yes,"  said  the  Duke.  "Well,  then,  I  shall 
keep  them  until  I  can  learn  more;  and  if  we  can 
learn  nothing,  I  shall  return  them  to  the  dealer.'! 

171 


The  Princess  Aline 

Carlton  met  Miss  Morris  that  afternoon  in  a 
state  of  great  excitement.  "It's  come!"  he  cried 
— "it's  come!  I  am  to  meet  her  this  week.  I 
have  met  her  brother,  and  he  has  asked  me  to 
dine  with  them  on  Thursday  night;  that's  the 
day  before  they  leave  for  Athens;  and  he  particu- 
larly mentioned  that  his  sisters  would  be  at  the 
dinner,  and  that  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  present 
me.  It  seems  that  the  eldest  paints,  and  all  of 
them  love  art  for  art's  sake,  as  their  father  taught 
them  to  do;  and,  for  all  we  know,  he  may  make 
me  court  painter,  and  I  shall  spend  the  rest  of 
my  life  at  Grasse  patnting  portraits  of  the  Prin- 
cess Aline,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  and  at  all 
future  ages.  And  if  he  does  give  me  a  commis- 
sion to  paint  her,  I  can  tell  you  now  in  confidence 
that  that  picture  will  require  more  sittings  than 
any  other  picture  ever  painted  by  man.  Her 
hair  will  have  turned  white  by  the  time  it  is  fin- 
ished, and  the  gown  she  started  to  pose  in  will 
have  become  forty  years  behind  the  fashion!" 

On  the  morning  following,  Carlton  and  Mrs. 
Downs  and  her  niece,  with  all  the  tourists  in 
Constantinople,  were  placed  in  open  carriages  by 
their  dragomans,  and  driven  in  a  long  procession  to 
the  Seraglio  to  see  the  Sultan's  treasures.  Those 
of  them  who  had  waited  two  weeks  for  this  chance 

172 


The  Princess  Aline 

looked  aggrieved  at  the  more  fortunate  who  had 
come  at  the  eleventh  hour  on  the  last  night's 
steamer,  and  seemed  to  think  these  latter  had 
attained  the  privilege  without  sufficient  effort. 
The  ministers  of  the  different  legations — as  is  the 
harmless  custom  of  such  gentlemen — had  im- 
pressed every  one  for  whom  they  had  obtained 
permission  to  see  the  treasures  with  the  great 
importance  of  the  service  rendered,  and  had  suc- 
ceeded in  making  every  one  feel  either  especially 
honored  or  especially  uncomfortable  at  having 
given  them  so  much  trouble.  This  sense  of  obli- 
gation, and  the  fact  that  the  dragomans  had 
assured  the  tourists  that  they  were  for  the  time 
being  the  guests  of  the  Sultan,  awed  and  de- 
pressed most  of  the  visitors  to  such  an  extent  that 
their  manner  in  the  long  procession  of  carriages 
suggested  a  funeral  cortege,  with  the  Hohenwalds 
in  front,  escorted  by  Beys  and  Pashas,  as  chief 
mourners.  The  procession  halted  at  the  palace, 
and  the  guests  of  the  Sultan  were  received  by 
numerous  effendis  in  single-button  frock-coats 
and  freshly  ironed  fezzes,  who  served  them  with 
glasses  of  water,  and  a  huge  bowl  of  some 
sweet  stuff,  of  which  every  one  was  supposed  to 
take  a  spoonful.  There  was  at  first  a  general 
fear  among  the  Cook's  tourists  that  there  would 


The  Princess  Aline 

not  be  enough  of  this  to  go  round,  which  was 
succeeded  by  a  greater  anxiety  lest  they  should 
be  served  twice.  Some  of  the  tourists  put  the 
sweet  stuff  in  their  mouths  direct  and  licked  the 
spoon,  and  others  dropped  it  off  the  spoon  into 
the  glass  of  water,  and  stirred  it  about  and  sipped 
at  it,  and  no  one  knew  who  had  done  the  right 
thing,  not  even  those  who  happened  to  have  done 
it.  Carlton  and  Miss  Morris  went  out  on  to  the 
terrace  while  this  ceremony  was  going  forward, 
and  looked  out  over  the  great  panorama  of 
waters,  with  the  Sea  of  Marmora  on  one  side, 
the  Golden  Horn  on  the  other,  and  the  Bosporus 
at  their  feet.  The  sun  was  shining  mildly,  and 
the  waters  were  stirred  by  great  and  little  vessels; 
before  them  on  the  opposite  bank  rose  the  dark 
green  cypresses  which  marked  the  grim  cemetery 
of  England's  dead,  and  behind  them  were  the 
great  turtle-backed  mosques  and  pencil-like  mina- 
rets of  the  two  cities,  and  close  at  hand  the  mosaic 
walls  and  beautiful  gardens  of  Constantine. 

"Your  friends  the  Hohenwalds  don't  seem  to 
know  you  this  morning,"  she  said. 

"Oh,  yes;  he  spoke  to  me  as  we  left  the  hotel," 
Carlton  answered.  "But  they  are  on  parade  at 
present.  There  are  a  lot  of  their  countrymen 
among  the  tourists." 


The  Princess  Aline 

"I  feel  rather  sorry  for  them,"  Miss  Morris 
said,  looking  at  the  group  with  an  amused  smile. 
"Etiquette  cuts  them  off  from  so  much  innocent 
amusement.  Now,  you  are  a  gentleman,  and  the 
Duke  presumably  is,  and  why  should  you  not  go 
over  and  say,  'Your  Highness,  I  wish  you  would 
present  me  to  your  sister,  whom  I  am  to  meet 
at  dinner  to-morrow  night.  I  admire  her  very 
much/  and  then  you  could  point  out  the  histori- 
cal features  to  her,  and  show  her  where  they 
have  finished  off  a  blue  and  green  tiled  wall 
with  a  rusty  tin  roof,  and  make  pretty  speeches  to 
her.  It  wouldn't  hurt  her,  and  it  would  do  you  a 
lot  of  good.  The  simplest  way  is  always  the  best 
way,  it  seems  to  me." 

"Oh  yes,  of  course,"  said  Carlton.  "Suppose 
he  came  over  here  and  said :  '  Carlton,  I  wish  you 
would  present  me  to  your  young  American  friend. 
I  admire  her  very  much.'  I  would  probably  say: 
'Do  you?  Well,  you  will  have  to  wait  until  she 
expresses  some  desire  to  meet  you/  No;  eti- 
quette is  all  right  in  itself,  only  some  people  don't 
know  its  laws,  and  that  is  the  one  instance  to  my 
mind  where  ignorance  of  the  law  is  no  excuse." 

Carlton  left  Miss  Morris  talking  with  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  American  Legation,  and  went  to  look 
for  Mrs.  Downs.  When  he  returned  he  found 


The  Princess  Aline 

that  the  young  Secretary  had  apparently  asked 
and  obtained  permission  to  present  the  Duke's 
equerries  and  some  of  his  diplomatic  confreres, 
who  were  standing  now  about  her  in  an  attentive 
semicircle,  and  pointing  out  the  different  palaces 
and  points  of  interest.  Carlton  was  somewhat 
disturbed  at  the  sight,  and  reproached  himself 
with  not  having  presented  any  one  to  her  before. 
He  was  sure  now  that  she  must  have  had  a  dull 
time  of  it;  but  he  wished,  nevertheless,  that  if  she 
was  to  meet  other  men,  the  Secretary  had  allowed 
him  to  act  as  master  of  ceremonies. 

"I  suppose  you  know,"  that  gentleman  was 
saying  as  Carlton  came  up,  "that  when  you  pass 
by  Abydos,  on  the  way  to  Athens,  you  will  see 
where  Leander  swam  the  Hellespont  to  meet 
Hero.  That  little  white  light-house  is  called 
Leander  in  honor  of  him.  It  makes  rather  an 
interesting  contrast — does  it  not  ? — to  think  of 
that  chap  swimming  along  in  the  dark,  and  then 
to  find  that  his  monument  to-day  is  a  light-house, 
with  revolving  lamps  and  electric  appliances,  and 
with  ocean  tramps  and  bridges  and  men-of-war 
around  it.  We  have  improved  in  our  mechanism 
since  then,"  he  said,  with  an  air,  "but  I  am  afraid 
the  men  of  to-day  don't  do  that  sort  of  thing  for 
the  women  of  to-day." 

17$ 


The  Princess  Aline 

"Then  it  is  the  men  who  have  deteriorated," 
said  one  of  the  equerries,  bowing  to  Miss  Morris; 
"it  is  certainly  not  the  women." 

The  two  Americans  looked  at  Miss  Morris  to 
see  how  she  received  this,  but  she  smiled  good- 
naturedly. 

"I  know  a  man  who  did  more  than  that  for  a 
woman,"  said  Carlton,  innocently.  "He  crossed 
an  ocean  and  several  countries  to  meet  her,  and 
he  hasn't  met  her  yet." 

Miss  Morris  looked  at  him  and  laughed,  in 
the  safety  that  no  one  understood  him  but  herself. 

"  But  he  ran  no  danger,"  she  answered. 

"He  didn't,  didn't  he?"  said  Carlton,  looking 
at  her  closely  and  laughing.  "I  think  he  was  in 
very  great  danger  all  the  time." 

"Shocking!"  said  Miss  Morris,  reprovingly; 
"and  in  her  very  presence,  too."  She  knitted 
her  brows  and  frowned  at  him.  "I  really  believe 
if  you  were  in  prison  you  would  make  pretty 
speeches  to  the  jailer's  daughter." 

"Yes,"  said  Carlton,  boldly,  "or  even  to  a 
woman  who  was  a  prisoner  herself." 

"I  don't  know  what  you  mean,"  she  said,  turn- 
ing away  from  him  to  the  others.  "How  far 
was  it  that  Leander  swam?"  she  asked. 

The  English  captain  pointed  out  two  spots  on 
177 


The  Princess  Aline 

either  bank,  and  said  that  the  shores  of  Abydos 
were  a  little  over  that  distance  apart. 

"As  far  as  that?"  said  Miss  Morris.  "How 
much  he  must  have  cared  for  her!"  She  turned 
to  Carlton  for  an  answer. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said.  He  was  meas- 
uring the  distance  between  the  two  points  with 
his  eyes. 

"I  said  how  much  he  must  have  cared  for  her! 
You  wouldn't  swim  that  far  for  a  girl." 

"For  a  girl!"  laughed  Carlton,  quickly.  "I 
was  just  thinking  I  would  do  it  for  fifty  dollars." 

The  English  captain  gave  a  hasty  glance  at  the 
distance  he  had  pointed  out,  and  then  turned  to 
Carlton.  "I'll  take  you,"  he  said,  seriously. 
"I'll  bet  you  twenty  pounds  you  can't  do  it." 
There  was  an  easy  laugh  at  Carlton's  expense, 
but  he  only  shook  his  head  and  smiled. 

"Leave  him  alone,  captain,"  said  the  American 
Secretary.  "It  seems  to  me  I  remember  a  story 
of  Mr.  Carlton's  swimming  out  from  Navesink  to 
meet  an  ocean  liner.  It  was  about  three  miles, 
and  the  ocean  was  rather  rough,  and  when  they 
slowed  up  he  asked  them  if  it  was  raining  in 
London  when  they  left.  They  thought  he  was 
mad." 

"Is  that  true,  Carlton  ?"  asked  the  Englishman. 
178 


The  Princess  Aline 

"Something  like  it,"  said  the  American,  "ex- 
cept that  I  didn't  ask  them  if  it  was  raining  in 
London.  I  asked  them  for  a  drink,  and  it  was 
they  who  were  mad.  They  thought  I  was  drown- 
ing, and  slowed  up  to  lower  a  boat,  and  when 
they  found  out  I  was  just  swimming  around  they 
were  naturally  angry." 

"Well,  I'm  glad  you  didn't  bet  with  me,"  said 
the  captain,  with  a  relieved  laugh. 

That  evening,  as  the  Englishman  was  leaving 
the  smoking-room,  and  after  he  had  bidden  Carl- 
ton  good-night,  he  turned  back  and  said:  "I  did- 
n't like  to  ask  you  before  those  men  this  morning, 
but  there  was  something  about  your  swimming 
adventure  I  wanted  to  know:  Did  you  get  that 
drink?" 

"I  did,"  said  Carlton— "in  a  bottle.  They 
nearly  broke  my  shoulder." 

As  Carlton  came  into  the  breakfast-room  on 
the  morning  of  the  day  he  was  to  meet  the  Prin- 
cess Aline  at  dinner,  Miss  Morris  was  there  alone, 
and  he  sat  down  at  the  same  table,  opposite  to 
her.  She  looked  at  him  critically,  and  smiled 
with  evident  amusement. 

"'To-day,'"  she  quoted,  solemnly,  "'the 
birthday  of  my  life  has  come.' ' 

Carlton  poured  out  his  coffee,  with  a  shake  of 
179 


The  Princess  Aline 

his  head,  and  frowned.  "Oh,  you  can  laugh," 
he  said,  "but  I  didn't  sleep  at  all  last  night.  I 
lay  awake  making  speeches  to  her.  I  know  they 
are  going  to  put  me  between  the  wrong  sisters," 
he  complained,  "or  next  to  one  of  those  old 
ladies-in-waiting,  or  whatever  they  are." 

"How  are  you  going  to  begin  ?"  said  Miss  Mor- 
ris. "Will  you  tell  her  you  have  followed  her 
from  London — or  from  New  York,  rather — that 
you  are  young  Lochinvar,  who  came  out  of  the 
West,  and- 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Carlton,  meditatively, 
"just  how  I  shall  begin;  but  I  know  the  curtain 
is  going  to  rise  promptly  at  eight  o'clock — about 
the  time  the  soup  comes  on,  I  think.  I  don't 
see  how  she  can  help  but  be  impressed  a  little  bit. 
It  isn't  every  day  a  man  hurries  around  the  globe 
on  account  of  a  girl's  photograph;  and  she  is 
beautiful,  isn't  she?" 

Miss  Morris  nodded  her  head  encouragingly. 

"Do  you  know,  sometimes,"  said  Carlton, 
glancing  over  his  shoulders  to  see  if  the  waiters 
were  out  of  hearing,  "  I  fancy  she  has  noticed  me. 
Once  or  twice  I  have  turned  my  head  in  her  direc- 
tion without  meaning  to,  and  found  her  looking- — 
well,  looking  my  way,  at  least.  Don't  you  think 
that  is  a  good  sign  ?"  he  asked,  eagerly. 

180 


The  Princess  Aline 

"It  depends  on  what  you  call  a  'good  sign/' 
said  Miss  Morris,  judicially.  "It  is  a  sign  you're 
good  to  look  at,  if  that's  what  you  want.  But 
you  probably  know  that  already,  and  it's  nothing 
to  your  credit.  It  certainly  isn't  a  sign  that  a 
person  cares  for  you  because  she  prefers  to  look 
at  your  profile  rather  than  at  what  the  dragomans 
are  trying  to  show  her." 

Carlton  drew  himself  up  stiffly.  "If  you  knew 
your  Alice  better,"  he  said,  with  severity,  "you 
would  understand  that  it  is  not  polite  to  make 
personal  remarks.  I  ask  you,  as  my  confidante, 
if  you  think  she  has  noticed  me,  and  you  make 
fun  of  my  looks!  That's  not  the  part  of  a  con- 
fidante." 

"Noticed  you!"  laughed  Miss  Morris,  scorn- 
fully. "  How  could  she  help  it  ?  You  are  al- 
ways in  the  way.  You  are  at  the  door  whenever 
they  go  out  or  come  in,  and  when  we  are  visiting 
mosques  and  palaces  you  are  invariably  looking 
at  her  instead  of  the  tombs  and  things,  with  a 
wistful  far-away  look,  as  though  you  saw  a  vision. 
The  first  time  you  did  it,  after  you  had  turned 
away  I  saw  her  feel  to  see  if  her  hair  was  all  right. 
You  quite  embarrassed  her." 

"I  didn't — I  don't!"  stammered  Carlton,  indig- 
nantly. "I  wouldn't  be  so  rude.  Oh,  I  see  I'll 

181 


The  Princess  Aline 

have   to   get   another   confidante;   you   are   most 
unsympathetic  and  unkind." 

But  Miss  Morris  showed  her  sympathy  later  in 
the  day,  when  Carlton  needed  it  sorely;  for  the 
dinner  toward  which  he  had  looked  with  such 
pleasurable  anticipations  and  loverlike  misgivings 
did  not  take  place.  The  Sultan,  so  the  equerry 
informed  him,  had,  with  Oriental  unexpectedness, 
invited  the  Duke  to  dine  that  night  at  the  Palace, 
and  the  Duke,  much  to  his  expressed  regret,  had 
been  forced  to  accept  what  was  in  the  nature  of 
a  command.  He  sent  word  by  his  equerry,  how- 
ever, that  the  dinner  to  Mr.  Carlton  was  only  a 
pleasure  deferred,  and  that  at  Athens,  where  he 
understood  Carlton  was  also  going,  he  hoped  to 
have  the  pleasure  of  entertaining  him  and  mak- 
ing him  known  to  his  sisters. 

"He  is  a  selfish  young  egoist,"  said  Carlton  to 
Mrs.  Downs.  "As  if  I  cared  whether  he  was  at 
the  dinner  or  not!  Why  couldn't  he  have  fixed 
it  so  I  might  have  dined  with  his  sisters  alone  ? 
We  would  never  have  missed  him.  I'll  never 
meet  her  now.  I  know  it;  I  feel  it.  Fate  is 
against  me.  Now  I  will  have  to  follow  them  on 
to  Athens,  and  something  will  turn  up  there  to 
keep  me  away  from  her.  You'll  see;  you'll  see. 
I  wonder  where  they  go  from  Athens  ?" 

182 


The  Princess  Aline 

The  Hohenwalds  departed  the  next  morning, 
and  as  their  party  had  engaged  all  the  state- 
rooms in  the  little  Italian  steamer,  Carlton  was 
forced  to  wait  over  for  the  next.  He  was  very 
gloomy  over  his  disappointment,  and  Miss  Morris 
did  her  best  to  amuse  him.  She  and  her  aunt 
were  never  idle  now,  and  spent  the  last  few  days 
of  their  stay  in  Constantinople  in  the  bazaars  or 
in  excursions  up  and  down  the  river. 

"These  are  my  last  days  of  freedom,"  Miss 
Morris  said  to  him  once,  "and  I  mean  to  make 
the  most  of  them.  After  this  there  will  be  no 
more  travelling  for  me.  And  I  love  it  so!"  she 
added,  wistfully. 

Carlton  made  no  comment,  but  he  felt  a  cer- 
tain contemptuous  pity  for  the  young  man  in 
America  who  had  required  such  a  sacrifice. 
"  She  is  too  nice  a  girl  to  let  him  know  she  is  mak- 
ing a  sacrifice/'  he  thought,  "or  giving  up  any- 
thing for  him,  but  she  won't  forget  it."  And 
Carlton  again  commended  himself  for  not  having 
asked  any  woman  to  make  any  sacrifices  for  him. 

They  left  Constantinople  for  Athens  one  moon- 
light night,  three  days  after  the  Hohenwalds  had 
taken  their  departure,  and  as  the  evening  and 
the  air  were  warm,  they  remained  upon  the 
upper  deck  until  the  boat  had  entered  the  Darda- 

183 


The  Princess  Aline 

nelles.  There  were  few  passengers,  and  Mrs. 
Downs  went  below  early,  leaving  Miss  Morris 
and  Carlton  hanging  over  the  rail,  and  looking 
down  upon  a  band  of  Hungarian  gypsies,  who 
were  playing  the  weird  music  of  their  country  on 
the  deck  beneath  them.  The  low  receding  hills 
lay  close  on  either  hand,  and  ran  back  so  sharply 
from  the  narrow  waterway  that  they  seemed  to 
shut  in  the  boat  from  the  world  beyond.  The 
moonlight  showed  a  little  mud  fort  or  a  thatched 
cottage  on  the  bank  fantastically,  as  through  a 
mist,  and  from  time  to  time  as  they  sped  forward 
they  saw  the  camp-fire  of  a  sentry,  and  his  shadow 
as  he  passed  between  it  and  them,  or  stopped  to 
cover  it  with  wood.  The  night  was  so  still  that 
they  could  hear  the  waves  in  the  steamer's  wake 
washing  up  over  the  stones  on  either  shore,  and 
the  muffled  beat  of  the  engines  echoed  back  from 
either  side  of  the  valley  through  which  they 
passed.  There  was  a  great  lantern  hanging  mid- 
way from  the  mast,  and  shining  down  upon  the 
lower  deck.  It  showed  a  group  of  Greeks,  Turks, 
and  Armenians,  in  strange  costumes,  sleeping, 
huddled  together  in  picturesque  confusion  over 
the  bare  boards,  or  wide-awake  and  voluble, 
smoking  and  chatting  together  in  happy  com- 
pany. The  music  of  the  tizanes  rose  in  notes  of 

184 


The  Princess  Aline 

passionate  ecstasy  and  sharp,  unexpected  bursts 
of  melody.  It  ceased  and  began  again,  as  though 
the  musicians  were  feeling  their  way,  and  then 
burst  out  once  more  into  shrill  defiance.  It 
stirred  Carlton  with  a  strange  turbulent  unrest. 
From  the  banks  the  night  wind  brought  soft 
odors  of  fresh  earth  and  of  heavy  foliage. 

"The  music  of  different  countries,"  Carlton 
said  at  last,  "means  many  different  things. 
But  it  seems  to  me  that  the  music  of  Hungary  is 
the  music  of  love." 

Miss  Morris  crossed  her  arms  comfortably  on 
the  rail,  and  he  heard  her  laugh  softly.  "Oh  no, 
it  is  not,"  she  said,  undisturbed.  "It  is  a  pas- 
sionate, gusty,  heady  sort  of  love,  if  you  like,  but 
it's  no  more  like  the  real  thing  than  burgundy  is 
like  clear,  cold,  good  water.  It's  not  the  real 
thing  at  all." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  Carlton,  meekly. 
"Of  course  I  don't  know  anything  about  it." 
He  had  been  waked  out  of  the  spell  which  the 
night  and  the  tizanes  had  placed  upon  him  as 
completely  as  though  some  one  had  shaken  him 
sharply  by  the  shoulder.  "I  bow,"  he  said,  "to 
your  superior  knowledge.  I  know  nothing  about 


it." 


No;  you  are  quite  right.     I  don't  believe  you 

185 


The  Princess  Aline 

do  know  anything  about  it,"  said  the  girl,  "or 
you  wouldn't  have  made  such  a  comparison." 

"Do  you  know,  Miss  Morris,"  said  Carlton, 
seriously,  "that  I  believe  I'm  not  able  to  care  for 
a  woman  as  other  men  do — at  least  as  some  men  do; 
it's  just  lacking  in  me,  and  always  will  be  lacking. 
It's  like  an  ear  for  music;  if  you  haven't  got  it,  if  it 
isn't  born  in  you,  you'll  never  have  it.  It's  not 
a  thing  you  can  cultivate,  and  I  feel  that  it's  not 
only  a  misfortune,  but  a  fault.  Now  I  honestly 
believe  that  I  care  more  for  the  Princess  Aline, 
whom  I  have  never  met,  than  many  other  men 
could  care  for  her  if  they  knew  her  well;  but  what 
they  feel  would  last,  and  I  have  doubts  from  past 
experience  that  what  I  feel  would.  I  don't  doubt 
it  while  it  exists,  but  it  never  does  exist  long,  and 
so  I  am  afraid  it  is  going  to  be  with  me  to  the  end 
of  the  chapter."  He  paused  for  a  moment,  but 
the  girl  did  not  answer.  "I  am  speaking  in 
earnest  now,"  he  added,  with  a  rueful  laugh. 

"I  see  you  are,"  she  replied,  briefly.  She 
seemed  to  be  considering  his  condition  as  he  had 
described  it  to  her,  and  he  did  not  interrupt  her. 
From  below  them  came  the  notes  of  the  waltz 
the  gypsies  played.  It  was  full  of  the  undercur- 
rent of  sadness  that  a  waltz  should  have,  and 
filled  out  what  Carlton  said  as  the  music  from 

186 


The  Princess  Aline 

the  orchestra  in  a  theatre  heightens  the  effect 
without  interrupting  the  words  of  the  actor  on 
the  stage. 

"It  is  strange,"  said  Miss  Morris.  "I  should 
have  thought  you  were  a  man  who  would  care 
very  much  and  in  just  the  right  way.  But  I 
don't  believe  really — I'm  sorry,  but  I  don't  be- 
lieve you  do  know  what  love  means  at  all." 

"Oh,  it  isn't  as  bad  as  that,"  said  Carlton. 
"I  think  I  know  what  it  is,  and  what  it  means  to 
other  people,  but  I  can't  feel  it  myself.  The  best 
idea  I  ever  got  of  it — the  thing  that  made  it  clear 
to  me — was  a  line  in  a  play.  It  seemed  to  ex- 
press it  better  than  any  of  the  love-poems  I  ever 
read.  It  was  in  'Shenandoah."' 

Miss  Morris  laughed. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  Carlton. 

"I  beg  yours,"  she  said.  "It  was  only  the  in- 
congruity that  struck  me.  It  seemed  so  odd  to 
be  quoting  'Shenandoah'  here  in  the  Dardanelles, 
with  these  queer  people  below  us  and  ancient 
Troy  on  one  hand — it  took  me  by  surprise,  that's 
all.  Please  go  on.  What  was  it  impressed  you  ?" 

"Well,  the  hero  in  the  play,"  said  Carlton,  "is 
an  officer  in  the  Northern  army,  and  he  is  lying 
wounded  in  a  house  near  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 
The  girl  he  loves  lives  in  this  house,  and  is  nurs- 


The  Princess  Aline 

ing  him;  but  she  doesn't  love  him,  because  she 
sympathizes  with  the  South.  At  least  she  says 
she  doesn't  love  him.  Both  armies  are  forming 
in  the  valley  below  to  begin  the  battle,  and  he 
sees  his  own  regiment  hurrying  past  to  join 
them.  So  he  gets  up  and  staggers  out  on  the 
stage,  which  is  set  to  show  the  yard  in  front  of 
the  farm-house,  and  he  calls  for  his  horse  to  fol- 
low his  men.  Then  the  girl  runs  out  and  begs 
him  not  to  go;  and  he  asks  why,  what  does  it 
matter  to  her  whether  he  goes  or  not  ?  And  she 
says,  'But  I  cannot  let  you  go;  you  may  be  killed/ 
And  he  says  again,  'What  is  that  to  you?'  And 
she  says:  'It  is  everything  to  me.  I  love  you/ 
And  he  makes  a  grab  at  her  with  his  wounded 
arm,  and  at  that  instant  both  armies  open  fire  in 
the  valley  below,  and  the  whole  earth  and  sky 
seem  to  open  and  shut,  and  the  house  rocks. 
The  girl  rushes  at  him  and  crowds  up  against  his 
breast,  and  cries:  'What  is  that?  Oh,  what  is 
that?'  and  he  holds  her  tight  to  him  and  laughs, 
and  says:  'That?  That's  only  a  battle — you  love 


me/  " 


Miss  Morris  looked  steadfastly  over  the  side  of 
the  boat  at  the  waters  rushing  by  beneath,  smil- 
ing to  herself.  Then  she  turned  her  face  toward 
Carlton,  and  nodded  her  head  at  him.  "  I  think," 

188 


The  Princess  Aline 

she  said,  dryly,  "that  you  have  a  fair  idea  of  what 
it  means;  a  rough  working-plan  at  least — enough 
to  begin  on." 

"  I  said  that  I  knew  what  it  meant  to  others.  I 
am  complaining  that  I  cannot  feel  it  myself." 

"That  will  come  in  time,  no  doubt,"  she  said, 
encouragingly,  with  the  air  of  a  connoisseur; 
"and  let  me  tell  you,"  she  added,  "that  it  will  be 
all  the  better  for  the  woman  that  you  have  doubted 
yourself  so  long." 

"You  think  so?"  said  Carlton,  eagerly. 

Miss  Morris  laughed  at  his  earnestness,  and 
left  him  to  go  below  to  ask  her  aunt  to  join  them, 
but  Mrs.  Downs  preferred  to  read  in  the  saloon, 
and  Miss  Morris  returned  alone.  She  had  taken 
off  her  Eton  jacket  and  pulled  on  a  heavy  blue 
football  sweater,  and  over  this  a  reefer.  The 
jersey  clung  to  her  and  showed  the  lines  of  her 
figure,  and  emphasized  the  freedom  and  grace 
with  which  she  made  every  movement.  She 
looked,  as  she  walked  at  his  side  with  her  hands 
in  the  pockets  of  her  coat  and  with  a  flat  sailor  hat 
on  her  head,  like  a  tall,  handsome  boy;  but  when 
they  stopped  and  stood  where  the  light  fell  full 
on  her  hair  and  the  exquisite  coloring  of  her  skin, 
Carlton  thought  her  face  had  never  seemed  so 
delicate  or  fair  as  it  did  then,  rising  from  the  col- 

189 


The  Princess  Aline 

lar  of  the  rough  jersey,  and  contrasted  with  the 
hat  and  coat  of  a  man's  attire.  They  paced  the 
deck  for  an  hour  later,  until  every  one  else  had 
left  it,  and  at  midnight  were  still  loath  to  give  up 
the  beautiful  night  and  the  charm  of  their  strange 
surroundings.  There  were  long  silent  places  in 
their  talk,  during  which  Carlton  tramped  beside 
her  with  his  head  half  turned,  looking  at  her  and 
noting  with  an  artist's  eye  the  free  light  step,  the 
erect  carriage,  and  the  unconscious  beauty  of  her 
face.  The  captain  of  the  steamer  joined  them 
after  midnight,  and  falling  into  step,  pointed  out 
to  Miss  Morris  where  great  cities  had  stood,  where 
others  lay  buried,  and  where  beyond  the  hills 
were  the  almost  inaccessible  monasteries  of  the 
Greek  Church.  The  moonlight  turned  the  banks 
into  shadowy  substances,  in  which  the  ghosts  of 
former  days  seemed  to  make  a  part;  and  spurred 
by  the  young  girl's  interest,  the  Italian,  to  enter- 
tain her,  called  up  all  the  legends  of  mythology 
and  the  stones  of  Roman  explorers  and  Turkish 
conquerors. 

"I  turn  in  now,"  he  said,  after  Miss  Morris 
had  left  them.  "A  most  charming  young  lady. 
Is  it  not  so  ?"  he  added,  waving  his  cigarette  in  a 
gesture  which  expressed  the  ineffectiveness  of  the 
adjective. 

190 


The  Princess  Aline 

"Yes,  very,"  said  Carlton.     "Good-night,  sir." 

He  turned,  and  leaned  with  both  elbows  on  the 
rail,  and  looked  out  at  the  misty  banks,  puffing 
at  his  cigar.  Then  he  dropped  it  hissing  into 
the  water,  and,  stifling  a  yawn,  looked  up  and 
down  the  length  of  the  deserted  deck.  It  seemed 
particularly  bare  and  empty. 

"What  a  pity  she's  engaged!"  Carlton  said. 
"She  loses  so  much  by  it." 

They  steamed  slowly  into  the  harbor  of  the 
Piraeus  at  an  early  hour  the  next  morning,  with  a 
flotilla  of  small  boats  filled  with  shrieking  porters 
and  hotel-runners  at  the  sides.  These  men  tossed 
their  painters  to  the  crew,  and  crawled  up  them 
like  a  boarding  crew  of  pirates,  running  wildly 
about  the  deck,  and  laying  violent  hands  on  any 
piece  of  baggage  they  saw  unclaimed.  The  pas- 
sengers' trunks  had  been  thrown  out  in  a  heap  on 
the  deck,  and  Nolan  and  Carlton  were  clamber- 
ing over  them,  looking  for  their  own  effects,  while 
Miss  Morris  stood  below,  as  far  out  of  the  con- 
fusion as  she  could  place  herself,  and  pointed  out 
the  different  pieces  that  belonged  to  her.  As  she 
stood  there  one  of  the  hotel-runners,  a  burly, 
greasy  Levantine  in  pursuit  of  a  possible  victim, 
shouldered  her  intentionally  and  roughly  out  of 
the  way.  He  shoved  her  so  sharply  that  she  lost 

191 


The  Princess  Aline 

her  balance  and  fell  back  against  the  rail.  Carl- 
ton  saw  what  had  happened,  and  made  a  flying 
leap  from  the  top  of  the  pile  of  trunks,  landing 
beside  her,  and  in  time  to  seize  the  escaping 
offender  by  the  collar.  He  jerked  him  back  off 
his  feet. 

"How  dare  you — "  he  began. 

But  he  did  not  finish.  He  felt  the  tips  of  Miss 
Morris's  fingers  laid  upon  his  shoulder,  and  her 
voice  saying,  in  an  annoyed  tone:  "Don't;  please 
don't."  And,  to  his  surprise,  his  fingers  lost  their 
grip  on  the  man's  shirt,  his  arms  dropped  at  his 
side,  and  his  blood  began  to  flow  calmly  again 
through  his  veins.  Carlton  was  aware  that  he 
had  a  very  quick  temper.  He  was  always  engag- 
ing in  street  rows,  as  he  called  them,  with  men 
who  he  thought  had  imposed  on  him  or  on  some 
one  else,  and  though  he  was  always  ashamed  of 
himself  later,  his  temper  had  never  been  satisfied 
without  a  blow  or  an  apology.  Women  had  also 
touched  him  before,  and  possibly  with  a  greater 
familiarity;  but  these  had  stirred  him,  not  quieted 
him;  and  men  who  had  laid  detaining  hands  on 
him  had  had  them  beaten  down  for  their  pains. 
But  this  girl  had  merely  touched  him  gently,  and 
he  had  been  made  helpless.  It  was  most  per- 
plexing; and  while  the  custom-house  officials  were 

192 


The  Princess  Aline 

passing  his  luggage,  he  found  himself  rubbing 
his  arm  curiously,  as  though  it  were  numb,  and 
looking  down  at  it  with  an  amused  smile.  He 
did  not  comment  on  the  incident,  although  he 
smiled  at  the  recollection  of  his  prompt  obedience 
several  times  during  the  day.  But  as  he  was 
stepping  into  the  cab  to  drive  to  Athens,  he  saw 
the  offending  ruffian  pass,  dripping  with  water, 
and  muttering  bitter  curses.  When  he  saw  Carl- 
ton  he  disappeared  instantly  in  the  crowd.  Carl- 
ton  stepped  over  to  where  Nolan  sat  beside  the 
driver  on  the  box.  "Nolan,"  he  said,  in  a  low 
voice,  "isn't  that  the  fellow  who " 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Nolan,  touching  his  hat  gravely. 
"He  was  pulling  a  valise  one  way,  and  the  gentle- 
man that  owned  it,  sir,  was  pulling  it  the  other, 
and  the  gentleman  let  go  sudden,  and  the  Italian 
went  over  backwards  off  the  pier." 

Carl  ton  smiled  grimly  with  secret  satisfaction. 

"Nolan,"  he  said,  "you're  not  telling  the  truth. 
You  did  it  yourself."  Nolan  touched  his  cap  and 
coughed  consciously.  There  had  been  no  de- 
taining fingers  on  Nolan's  arm. 


Ill 


"*\7OU  are  coming  now,  Miss  Morris,"  ex- 
X  claimed  Carlton  from  the  front  of  the  car- 
riage in  which  they  were  moving  along  the  sunny 
road  to  Athens,  "into  a  land  where  one  restores  his 
lost  illusions.  Anybody  who  wishes  to  get  back 
his  belief  in  beautiful  things  should  come  here  to 
do  it,  just  as  he  would  go  to  a  German  sanitarium 
to  build  up  his  nerves  or  his  appetite.  You  have 
only  to  drink  in  the  atmosphere  and  you  are  cured. 
I  know  no  better  antidote  than  Athens  for  a  siege 
of  cable-cars  and  muddy  asphalt  pavements  and 
a  course  of  *  Robert  Elsmeres'  and  the  *  Heavenly 
Twins/  Wait  until  you  see  the  statues  of  the 
joung  athletes  in  the  Museum,"  he  cried,  enthu- 
siastically, "and  get  a  glimpse  of  the  blue  sky 
t>ack  of  Mount  Hymettus,  and  the  moonlight 
some  evening  on  the  Acropolis,  and  you'll  be  con- 
vinced that  nothing  counts  for  much  in  this  world 
but  health  and  straight  limbs,  and  tall  marble  pil- 
lars, and  eyes  trained  to  see  only  what  is  beautiful. 
Give  people  a  love  for  beauty  and  a  respect  for 

194 


The  Princess  Aline 

health,  Miss  Morris,  and  the  result  is  going  to  be, 
what  they  once  had  here,  the  best  art  and  the 
greatest  writers  and  satirists  and  poets.  The 
same  audience  that  applauded  Euripides  and 
Sophocles  in  the  open  theatre  used  to  cross  the 
road  the  same  day  to  applaud  the  athletes  who 
ran  naked  in  the  Olympian  games,  and  gave  them 
as  great  honor.  I  came  here  once  on  a  walking 
tour  with  a  chap  who  wasn't  making  as  much  of 
himself  as  he  should  have  done,  and  he  went 
away  a  changed  man,  and  became  a  personage 
in  the  world,  and  you  would  never  guess  what  it 
was  that  did  it.  He  saw  a  statue  of  one  of  the 
Greek  gods  in  the  Museum  which  showed  cer- 
tain muscles  that  he  couldn't  find  in  his  own 
body,  and  he  told  me  he  was  going  to  train  down 
until  they  did  show;  and  he  stopped  drinking  and 
loafing  to  do  it,  and  took  to  exercising  and  work- 
ing; and  by  the  time  the  muscles  showed  out 
clear  and  strong  he  was  so  keen  over  life  that  he 
wanted  to  make  the  most  of  it,  and,  as  I  said,  he 
has  done  it.  That's  what  a  respect  for  his  own 
body  did  for  him." 

The  carriage  stopped  at  the  hotel  on  one  side 
of  the  public  square  of  Athens,  with  the  palace 
and  its  gardens  blocking  one  end,  and  yellow 
houses  with  red  roofs,  and  gay  awnings  over  the 


The  Princess  Aline 

cafes,  surrounding  it.  It  was  a  bright  sunny  day, 
and  the  city  was  clean  and  cool  and  pretty. 

"Breakfast?"  exclaimed  Miss  Morris,  in  an- 
swer to  Carlton's  inquiry;  "yes,  I  suppose  so,  but 
I  won't  feel  safe  until  I  have  my  feet  on  that 
rock."  She  was  standing  on  the  steps  of  the 
hotel,  looking  up  with  expectant,  eager  eyes  at 
the  great  Acropolis  above  the  city. 

"It  has  been  there  for  a  long  time  now,"  sug- 
gested Carlton,  "and  I  think  you  can  risk  its 
being  there  for  a  half-hour  longer." 

"Well,"  she  said,  reluctantly,  "but  I  don't 
wish  to  lose  this  chance.  There  might  be  an 
earthquake,  for  instance." 

"We  are  likely  to  see  them  this  morning,"  said 
Carlton,  as  he  left  the  hotel  with  the  ladies  and 
drove  toward  the  Acropolis.  "Nolan  Jias  been 
interviewing  the  English  maid,  and  she  tells  him 
they  spend  the  greater  part  of  their  time  up  there 
on  the  rock.  They  are  living  very  simply  here, 
as  they  did  in  Paris;  that  is,  for  the  present.  On 
Wednesday  the  King  gives  a  dinner  and  a  recep- 
tion in  their  honor." 

"When  does  your  dinner  come  off?"  asked 
Miss  Morris. 

"Never,"  said  Carlton,  grimly. 
196 


The  Princess  Aline 

"One  of  the  reasons  why  I  like  to  come  back 
to  Athens  so  much,"  said  Mrs.  Downs,  "is  be- 
cause there  are  so  few  other  tourists  here  to  spoil 
the  local  color  for  you,  and  there  are  almost  as 
few  guides  as  tourists,  so  that  you  can  wander 
around  undisturbed  and  discover  things  for  your- 
self. They  don't  label  every  fallen  column,  and 
place  fences  around  the  temples.  They  seem  to 
put  you  on  your  good  behavior.  Then  I  always 
like  to  go  to  a  place  where  you  are  as  much  of  a 
curiosity  to  the  people  as  they  are  to  you.  It 
seems  to  excuse  your  staring  about  you." 

"A  curiosity!"  exclaimed  Carl  ton;  "I  should 
say  so!  The  last  time  I  was  here  I  tried  to  wear 
a  pair  of  knickerbockers  around  the  city,  and  the 
people  stared  so  that  I  had  to  go  back  to  the 
hotel  and  change  them.  I  shouldn't  have  minded 
it  so  much  in  any  other  country,  but  I  thought 
men  who  wore  Jaeger  underclothing  and  women's 
petticoats  for  a  national  costume  might  have  ex- 
cused so  slight  an  eccentricity  as  knickerbockers. 
They  had  no  right  to  throw  the  first  stone." 

The  rock  upon  which  the  temples  of  the  Acrop- 
olis are  built  is  more  of  a  hill  than  a  rock.  It  is 
much  steeper  upon  one  side  than  the  other,  with  a 
sheer  fall  a  hundred  yards  broad;  on  the  opposite 
side  there  are  the  rooms  of  the  Hospital  of  ^Escu- 

197 


The  Princess  Aline 

lapius  and  the  theatres  of  Dionysus  and  Herodes 
Atticus.  The  top  of  the  rock  holds  the  Parthenon 
and  the  other  smaller  temples,  or  what  yet  re- 
mains of  them,  and  its  surface  is  littered  with 
broken  marble  and  stones  and  pieces  of  rock. 
The  top  is  so  closely  built  over  that  the  few  tour- 
ists who  visit  it  can  imagine  themselves  its  sole 
occupants  for  a  half-hour  at  a  time.  When  Carl- 
ton  and  his  friends  arrived,  the  place  appeared 
quite  deserted.  They  left  the  carriage  at  the  base 
of  the  rock,  and  climbed  up  to  the  entrance  on 
foot. 

"Now,  before  I  go  on  to  the  Parthenon,"  said 
Miss  Morris,  "I  want  to  walk  around  the  sides, 
and  see  what  is  there.  I  shall  begin  with  that 
theatre  to  the  left,  and  I  warn  you  that  I  mean  to 
take  my  time  about  it.  So  you  people  who  have 
been  here  before  can  run  along  by  yourselves,  but 
I  mean  to  enjoy  it  leisurely.  I  am  safe  by  myself 
here,  am  I  not?"  she  asked. 

"As  safe  as  though  you  were  in  the  Metropoli- 
tan Museum,"  said  Carlton,  as  he  and  Mrs. 
Downs  followed  Miss  Morris  along  the  side  of 
the  hill  toward  the  ruined  theatre  of  Herodes,  and 
stood  at  its  top,  looking  down  into  the  basin 
below.  From  their  feet  ran  a  great  semicircle  of 
marble  seats,  descending  tier  below  tier  to  a  mar- 

198 


The  Princess  Aline 

ble  pavement,  and  facing  a  great  ruined  wall  of 
pillars  and  arches  which  in  the  past  had  formed 
the  background  for  the  actors.  From  the  height 
on  which  they  stood  above  the  city  they  could  see 
the  green  country  stretching  out  for  miles  on 
every  side  and  swimming  in  the  warm  sunlight, 
the  dark  groves  of  myrtle  on  the  hills,  the  silver 
ribbon  of  the  inland  water,  and  the  dark  blue 
^Egean  Sea.  The  bleating  of  sheep  and  the  tink- 
ling of  the  bells  came  up  to  them  from  the  pas- 
tures below,  and  they  imagined  they  could  hear 
the  shepherds  piping  to  their  flocks  from  one  little 
hill-top  to  another. 

"The  country  is  not  much  changed,"  said  Carl- 
ton.  "And  when  you  stand  where  we  are  now, 
you  can  imagine  that  you  see  the  procession  wind- 
ing its  way  over  the  road  to  the  Eleusinian  Mys- 
teries, with  the  gilded  chariots,  and  the  children 
carrying  garlands,  and  the  priestesses  leading  the 
bulls  for  the  sacrifice." 

"What  can  we  imagine  is  going  on  here  ?"  said 
Miss  Morris,  pointing  with  her  parasol  to  the 
theatre  below. 

"Oh,  this  is  much  later,"  said  Carlton.  "This 
was  built  by  the  Romans.  They  used  to  act  and 
to  hold  their  public  meetings  here.  This  cor- 
responds to  the  top  row  of  our  gallery,  and  you 

199 


The  Princess  Aline 

can  imagine  that  you  are  looking  down  on  the 
bent  backs  of  hundreds  of  bald-headed  men  in 
white  robes,  listening  to  the  speakers  strutting 
about  below  there." 

"I  wonder  how  much  they  could  hear  from  this 
height?"  said  Mrs.  Downs. 

"Well,  they  had  that  big  wall  for  a  sounding- 
board,  and  the  air  is  so  soft  here  that  their  voices 
should  have  carried  easily,  and  I  believe  they 
wore  masks  with  mouth-pieces,  that  conveyed 
the  sound  like  a  fireman's  trumpet.  If  you  like, 
I  will  run  down  there  and  call  up  to  you,  and  you 
can  hear  how  it  sounded.  I  will  speak  in  my 
natural  voice  first,  and  if  that  doesn't  reach 
you,  wave  your  parasol,  and  I  will  try  it  a  little 
louder." 

"Oh,  do!"  said  Miss  Morris.  "It  will  be 
very  good  of  you.  I  should  like  to  hear  a  real 
speech  in  the  theatre  of  Herodes,"  she  said,  as 
she  seated  herself  on  the  edge  of  the  marble 
crater. 

"I'll  have  to  speak  in  English,"  said  Carlton, 
as  he  disappeared;  "my  Greek  isn't  good  enough 
to  carry  that  far." 

Mrs.  Downs  seated  herself  beside  her  niece, 
and  Carlton  began  scrambling  down  the  side  of 
the  amphitheatre.  The  marble  benches  were 

200 


The  Princess  Aline 

broken  in  parts,  and  where  they  were  perfect  were 
covered  with  a  fine  layer  of  moss  as  smooth  and 
soft  as  green  velvet,  so  that  Carlton,  when  he  was 
not  laboriously  feeling  for  his  next  foothold  with 
the  toe  of  his  boot,  was  engaged  in  picking  spring 
flowers  from  the  beds  of  moss  and  sticking  them, 
for  safe-keeping,  in  his  button-hole.  He  was  sev- 
eral minutes  in  making  the  descent,  and  so  busily 
occupied  in  doing  it  that  he  did  not  look  up  until 
he  had  reached  the  level  of  the  ground,  and 
jumped  lightly  from  the  first  row  of  seats  to  the 
stage,  covered  with  moss,  which  lay  like  a  heavy 
rug  over  the  marble  pavement.  When  he  did 
look  up  he  saw  a  tableau  that  made  his  heart, 
which  was  beating  quickly  from  the  exertion  of 
the  descent,  stand  still  with  consternation.  The 
Hohenwalds  had,  in  his  short  absence,  descended 
from  the  entrance  of  the  Acropolis,  and  had 
stopped  on  their  way  to  the  road  below  to  look 
into  the  cool  green  and  white  basin  of  the  theatre. 
At  the  moment  Carlton  looked  up  the  Duke  was 
standing  in  front  of  Mrs.  Downs  and  Miss  Morris, 
and  all  of  the  men  had  their  hats  off.  Then,  in 
pantomime,  and  silhouetted  against  the  blue  sky 
behind  them,  Carlton  saw  the  Princesses  ad- 
vance beside  their  brother,  and  Mrs.  Downs  and 
her  niece  courtesied  three  times,  and  then  the 

201 


The  Princess  Aline 

whole  party  faced  about  in  a  line  and  looked 
down  at  him.  The  meaning  of  the  tableau  was 
only  too  plain. 

"Good  heavens!"  gasped  Carlton.  "Every- 
body's getting  introduced  to  everybody  else,  and 
I've  missed  the  whole  thing!  If  they  think  I'm 
going  to  stay  down  here  and  amuse  them,  and 
miss  all  the  fun  myself,  they  are  greatly  mis- 
taken." He  made  a  mad  rush  for  the  front  first 
row  of  seats;  but  there  was  a  cry  of  remonstrance 
from  above,  and,  looking  up,  he  saw  all  of  the 
men  waving  him  back. 

"Speech!"  cried  the  young  English  Captain, 
applauding  loudly,  as  though  welcoming  an  actor 
on  his  first  entrance.  "Hats  off!"  he  cried. 
"Down  in  front!  Speech!" 

"Confound  that  ass!"  said  Carlton,  dropping 
back  to  the  marble  pavement  again,  and  gazing 
impotently  up  at  the  row  of  figures  outlined 
against  the  sky.  "I  must  look  like  a  bear  in  the 
bear-pit  at  the  Zoo,"  he  growled.  "They'll  be 
throwing  buns  to  me  next."  He  could  see  the 
two  elder  sisters  talking  to  Mrs.  Downs,  who  was 
evidently  explaining  his  purpose  in  going  down 
to  the  stage  of  the  theatre,  and  he  could  see  the 
Princess  Aline  bending  forward,  with  both  hands 
on  her  parasol,  and  smiling.  The  captain  made 

202 


The  Princess  Aline 

a  trumpet  of  his  hands,  and  asked  why  he  didn't 
begin. 

"Hello!  how  are  you?"  Carlton  called  back, 
waving  his  hat  at  him  in  some  embarrassment. 
"I  wonder  if  I  look  as  much  like  a  fool  as  I  feel  ?" 
he  muttered. 

"What  did  you  say?  We  can't  hear  you," 
answered  the  captain. 

"Louder!  louder!"  called  the  equerries.  Carl- 
ton  swore  at  them  under  his  breath,  and  turned 
and  gazed  round  the  hole  in  which  he  was  penned 
in  order  to  make  them  believe  that  he  had  given 
up  the  idea  of  making  a  speech,  or  had  ever 
intended  doing  so.  He  tried  to  think  of  some- 
thing clever  to  shout  back  at  them,  and  rejected 
"Ye  men  of  Athens"  as  being  too  flippant,  and 
"Friends,  Countrymen,  Romans,"  as  requiring 
too  much  effort.  When  he  looked  up  again  the 
Hohenwalds  were  moving  on  their  way,  and  as 
he  started  once  more  to  scale  the  side  of  the  thea- 
tre the  Duke  waved  his  hand  at  him  in  farewell, 
and  gave  another  hand  to  his  sisters,  who  dis- 
appeared with  him  behind  the  edge  of  the  upper 
row  of  seats.  Carlton  turned  at  once  and  dropped 
into  one  of  the  marble  chairs  and  bowed  his 
head.  When  he  did  reach  the  top  Miss  Morris 
held  out  a  sympathetic  hand  to  him  and  shook 

203 


The  Princess  Aline 

her  head  sadly,  but  he  could  see  that  she  was 
pressing  her  lips  tightly  together  to  keep  from 
smiling. 

"Oh,  it's  all  very  funny  for  you,"  he  said,  refus- 
ing her  hand.  "I  don't  believe  you  are  in  love 
with  anybody.  You  don't  know  what  it  means." 

They  revisited  the  rock  on  the  next  day  and  on 
the  day  after,  and  then  left  Athens  for  an  inland 
excursion  to  stay  overnight.  Miss  Morris  re- 
turned from  it  with  the  sense  of  having  done  her 
duty  once,  and  by  so  doing  having  earned  the 
right  to  act  as  she  pleased  in  the  future.  What 
she  best  pleased  to  do  was  to  wander  about  over 
the  broad  top  of  the  Acropolis,  with  no  serious 
intent  of  studying  its  historical  values,  but  rather, 
as  she  explained  it,  for  the  simple  satisfaction  of 
feeling  that  she  was  there.  She  liked  to  stand 
on  the  edge  of  the  low  wall  along  its  top  and  look 
out  over  the  picture  of  sea  and  plain  and  moun- 
tains that  lay  below  her.  The  sun  shone  brightly, 
and  the  wind  swept  by  them  as  though  they  were 
on  the  bridge  of  an  ocean  steamer,  and  there  was 
the  added  invigorating  sense  of  pleasure  that 
comes  to  us  when  we  stand  on  a  great  height. 
Carlton  was  sitting  at  her  feet,  shielded  from  the 
wind  by  a  fallen  column,  and  gazing  up  at  her 
with  critical  approval. 

204 


The  Princess  Aline 

"You  look  like  a  sort  of  a  'Winged  Victory* 
up  there,"  he  said,  "with  the  wind  blowing  your 
skirts  about  and  your  hair  coming  down." 

"I  don't  remember  that  the  *  Winged  Victory' 
has  any  hair  to  blow  about,"  suggested  Miss 
Morris. 

"I'd  like  to  paint  you,"  continued  Carlton, 
"just  as  you  are  standing  now,  only  I  would  put 
you  in  a  Greek  dress;  and  you  could  stand  a 
Greek  dress  better  than  almost  any  one  I  know. 
I  would  paint  you  with  your  head  up  and  one 
hand  shielding  your  eyes,  and  the  other  pressed 
against  your  breast.  It  would  be  stunning."  He 
spoke  enthusiastically,  but  in  quite  an  impersonal 
tone,  as  though  he  were  discussing  the  posing  of 
a  model. 

Miss  Morris  jumped  down  from  the  low  wall 
on  which  she  had  been  standing,  and  said,  sim- 
ply, "Of  course  I  should  like  to  have  you  paint 
me  very  much." 

Mrs.  Downs  looked  up  with  interest  to  see  if 
Mr.  Carlton  was  serious. 

"When  ? "  said  Carlton,  vaguely.  " Oh,  I  don't 
know.  Of  course  this  is  entirely  too  nice  to  last, 
and  you  will  be  going  home  soon,  and  then  when 
I  do  get  back  to  the  States  you  will — you  will  have 
other  things  to  do." 

205 


The  Princess  Aline 

"Yes,"  repeated  Miss  Morris,  "I  shall  have 
something  else  to  do  besides  gazing  out  at  the 
^gean  Sea."  She  raised  her  head  and  looked 
across  the  rock  for  a  moment  with  some  interest. 
Her  eyes,  which  had  grown  wistful,  lighted  again 
with  amusement.  "Here  are  your  friends,"  she 
said,  smiling. 

"No!"  exclaimed  Carlton,  scrambling  to  his 
feet. 

"Yes,"  said  Miss  Morris.  "The  Duke  has 
seen  us,  and  is  coming  over  here." 

When  Carlton  had  gained  his  feet  and  turned 
to  look,  his  friends  had  separated  in  different 
directions,  and  were  strolling  about  alone  or  in 
pairs  among  the  great  columns  of  the  Parthenon. 
But  the  Duke  came  directly  toward  them,  and 
seated  himself  on  a  low  block  of  marble  in  front 
of  the  two  ladies.  After  a  word  or  two  about 
the  beauties  of  the  place,  he  asked  if  they  would 
go  to  the  reception  which  the  King  gave  to  him 
on  the  day  following.  They  answered  that  they 
should  like  to  come  very  much,  and  the  Prince 
expressed  his  satisfaction,  and  said  that  he  would 
see  that  the  chamberlain  sent  them  invitations. 
"And  you,  Mr.  Carlton,  you  will  come  also,  I 
hope.  I  wish  you  to  be  presented  to  my  sisters. 
They  are  only  amateurs  in  art,  but  they  are  great 

206 


The  Princess  Aline 

admirers  of  your  work,  and  they  have  rebuked 
me  for  not  having  already  presented  you.  We 
were  all  disappointed,"  he  continued,  courteously, 
"at  not  having  you  to  dine  with  us  that  night  in 
Constantinople,  but  now  I  trust  I  shall  see  some- 
thing of  you  here.  You  must  tell  us  what  we  are 
to  admire." 

"That  is  very  easy,"  said  Carlton.  "Every- 
thing." 

"You  are  quite  right,"  said  the  Prince,  bowing 
to  the  ladies  as  he  moved  away.  "It  is  all  very 
beautiful." 

"Well,  now  you  certainly  will  meet  her,"  said 
Miss  Morris. 

"Oh  no,  I  won't,"  said  Carlton,  with  resigna- 
tion. "I  have  had  two  chances  and  lost  them, 
and  I'll  miss  this  one  too." 

"Well,  there  is  a  chance  you  shouldn't  miss," 
said  Miss  Morris,  pointing  and  nodding  her  head. 
"There  she  is  now,  and  all  alone.  She's  sketching, 
isn't  she,  or  taking  notes?  What  is  she  doing?" 

Carlton  looked  eagerly  in  the  direction  Miss 
Morris  had  signified,  and  saw  the  Princess  Aline 
sitting  at  some  distance  from  them,  with  a  book 
on  her  lap.  She  glanced  up  from  this  now  and 
again  to  look  at  something  ahead  of  her,  and  was 
apparently  deeply  absorbed  in  her  occupation. 

207 


The  Princess  Aline 

"There  is  your  opportunity,"  said  Mrs.  Downs; 
"and  we  are  going  back  to  the  hotel.  Shall  we 
see  you  at  luncheon  ?" 

"Yes,"  said  Carlton,  "unless  I  get  a  position 
as  drawing-master;  in  that  case  I  shall  be  here 
teaching  the  three  amateurs  in  art.  Do  you 
think  I  can  do  it?"  he  asked  Miss  Morris. 

"Decidedly,"  she  answered.  "I  have  found 
you  a  most  educational  young  person." 

They  went  away  together,  and  Carlton  moved 
cautiously  toward  the  spot  where  the  Princess 
was  sitting.  He  made  a  long  and  roundabout 
detour  as  he  did  so,  in  order  to  keep  himself 
behind  her.  He  did  not  mean  to  come  so  near 
that  she  would  see  him,  but  he  took  a  certain 
satisfaction  in  looking  at  her  when  she  was  alone, 
though  her  loneliness  was  only  a  matter  of  the 
moment,  and  though  he  knew  that  her  people 
were  within  a  hundred  yards  of  her.  He  was  in 
consequence  somewhat  annoyed  and  surprised  to 
see  another  young  man  dodging  in  and  out  among 
the  pillars  of  the  Parthenon  immediately  ahead  of 
him,  and  to  find  that  this  young  man  also  had 
his  attention  centred  on  the  young  girl,  who  sat 
unconsciously  sketching  in  the  foreground. 

"Now  what  the  devil  can  he  want?"  muttered 
Carlton,  his  imagination  taking  alarm  at  once. 

208 


The  Princess  Aline 

"If  it  would  only  prove  to  be  some  one  who  meant 
harm  to  her,"  he  thought — "a  brigand,  or  a  beg- 
gar, who  might  be  obligingly  insolent,  or  even  a 
tipsy  man,  what  a  chance  it  would  afford  for 
heroic  action!" 

With  this  hope  he  moved  forward  quickly  but 
silently,  hoping  that  the  stranger  might  prove 
even  to  be  an  anarchist  with  a  grudge  against 
royalty.  And  as  he  advanced  he  had  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  the  Princess  glance  over  her 
shoulder,  and,  observing  the  man,  rise  and  walk 
quickly  away  toward  the  edge  of  the  rock.  There 
she  seated  herself  with  her  face  toward  the  city, 
and  with  her  back  firmly  set  against  her  pursuer. 

"He  is  annoying  her!"  exclaimed  Carlton,  de- 
lightedly, as  he  hurried  forward.  "It  looks  as 
though  my  chance  had  come  at  last."  But  as  he 
approached  the  stranger  he  saw,  to  his  great  dis- 
appointment, that  he  had  nothing  more  serious 
to  deal  with  than  one  of  the  international  army  of 
amateur  photographers,  who  had  been  stalking 
the  Princess  as  a  hunter  follows  an  elk,  or  as  he 
would  have  stalked  a  race-horse  or  a  prominent 
politician  or  a  Lord  Mayor's  show,  everything 
being  fish  that  came  within  the  focus  of  his  cam- 
era. A  helpless  statue  and  an  equally  helpless 
young  girl  were  both  good  subjects  and  at  his 

209 


The  Princess  Aline 

mercy.  He  was  bending  over,  with  an  anxious 
expression  of  countenance,  and  focussing  his  cam- 
era on  the  back  of  the  Princess  Aline,  when  Carl- 
ton  approached  from  the  rear.  As  the  young 
man  put  his  finger  on  the  button  of  the  camera, 
Carlton  jogged  his  arm  with  his  elbow,  and 
pushed  the  enthusiastic  tourist  to  one  side. 

"I  say/'  exclaimed  that  individual,  "look 
where  you're  going,  will  you  ?  You  spoiled  that 
plate." 

"  I'll  spoil  your  camera  if  you  annoy  that  young 
lady  any  longer,"  said  Carlton,  in  a  low  voice. 

The  photographer  was  rapidly  rewinding  his 
roll,  and  the  fire  of  pursuit  was  still  in  his  eye. 

"She's  a  Princess,"  he  explained,  in  an  excited 
whisper. 

"Well,"  said  Carlton,  "even  a  Princess  is  en- 
titled to  some  consideration.  Besides,"  he  said, 
in  a  more  amicable  tone,  "you  haven't  a  permit 
to  photograph  on  the  Acropolis.  You  know  you 
haven't."  Carlton  was  quite  sure  of  this,  be- 
cause there  were  no  such  permits. 

The  amateur  looked  up  in  some  dismay.  "I 
didn't  know  you  had  to  have  them,"  he  said. 
"Where  can  I  get  one?" 

"The  King  may  give  you  one,"  said  Carlton. 
"He  lives  at  the  palace.  If  they  catch  you  up 

2IO 


The  Princess  Aline 

here  without  a  license,  they  will  confiscate  your 
camera  and  lock  you  up.  You  had  better  vanish 
before  they  see  you." 

"Thank  you.  I  will,"  said  the  tourist,  anx- 
iously. 

"Now,"  thought  Carlton,  smiling  pleasantly, 
"when  he  goes  to  the  palace  with  that  box  and 
asks  for  a  permit,  they'll  think  he  is  either  a  dy- 
namiter or  a  crank,  and  before  they  are  through 
with  him  his  interest  in  photography  will  have 
sustained  a  severe  shock." 

As  Carlton  turned  from  watching  the  rapid 
flight  of  the  photographer,  he  observed  that  the 
Princess  had  remarked  it  also,  as  she  had  no 
doubt  been  a  witness  of  what  had  passed,  even  if 
she  had  not  overheard  all  that  had  been  said. 
She  rose  from  her  enforced  position  of  refuge  with 
a  look  of  relief,  and  came  directly  toward  Carlton 
along  the  rough  path  that  led  through  the  debris 
on  the  top  of  the  Acropolis.  Carlton  had  thought, 
as  he  watched  her  sitting  on  the  wall,  with  her 
chin  resting  on  her  hand,  that  she  would  make  a 
beautiful  companion  picture  to  the  one  he  had 
wished  to  paint  of  Miss  Morris — the  one  girl 
standing  upright,  looking  fearlessly  out  to  sea,  on 
the  top  of  the  low  wall,  with  the  wind  blowing  her 
skirts  about  her,  and  her  hair  tumbled  in  the 

211 


The  Princess  Aline 

breeze,  and  the  other  seated,  bending  intently 
forward,  as  though  watching  for  the  return  of  a 
long-delayed  vessel;  a  beautifully  sad  face,  fine 
and  delicate  and  noble,  the  face  of  a  girl  on  the 
figure  of  a  woman.  And  when  she  rose  he  made 
no  effort  to  move  away,  or,  indeed,  to  pretend  not 
to  have  seen  her,  but  stood  looking  at  her  as 
though  he  had  the  right  to  do  so,  and  as  though 
she  must  know  he  had  that  right.  As  she  came 
toward  him  the  Princess  Aline  did  not  stop,  nor 
even  shorten  her  steps;  but  as  she  passed  oppo- 
site to  him  she  bowed  her  thanks  with  a  sweet 
impersonal  smile  and  a  dropping  of  the  eyes,  and 
continued  steadily  on  her  way. 

Carlton  stood  for  some  short  time  looking  after 
her,  with  his  hat  still  at  his  side.  She  seemed 
farther  from  him  at  that  moment  than  she  had 
ever  been  before,  although  she  had  for  the  first 
time  recognized  him.  But  he  knew  that  it  was 
only  as  a  human  being  that  she  had  recognized 
him.  He  put  on  his  hat,  and  sat  down  on  a 
rock  with  his  elbows  on  his  knees,  and  filled  his 
pipe. 

"  If  that  had  been  any  other  girl,"  he  thought, 
"I  would  have  gone  up  to  her  and  said,  'Was  that 
man  annoying  you?'  and  she  would  have  said, 
'Yes;  thank  you,'  or  something;  and  I  would  have 

212 


The  Princess  Aline 

walked  along  with  her  until  we  had  come  up  to 
her  friends,  and  she  would  have  told  them  I  had 
been  of  some  slight  service  to  her,  and  they  would 
have  introduced  us,  and  all  would  have  gone  well. 
But  because  she  is  a  Princess  she  cannot  be  ap- 
proached in  that  way.  At  least  she  does  not 
think  so,  and  I  have  to  act  as  she  has  been  told  I 
should  act,  and  not  as  I  think  I  should.  After 
all,  she  is  only  a  very  beautiful  girl,  and  she  must 
be  very  tired  of  her  cousins  and  grandmothers, 
and  of  not  being  allowed  to  see  any  one  else. 
These  royalties  make  a  very  picturesque  show  for 
the  rest  of  us,  but  indeed  it  seems  rather  hard  on 
them.  A  hundred  years  from  now  there  will  be 
no  more  kings  and  queens,  and  the  writers  of  that 
day  will  envy  us,  just  as  the  writers  of  this  day 
envy  the  men  who  wrote  of  chivalry  and  tourna- 
ments, and  they  will  have  to  choose  their  heroes 
from  bank  presidents,  and  their  heroines  from 
lady  lawyers  and  girl  politicians  and  type-writers. 
What  a  stupid  world  it  will  be  then!" 

The  next  day  brought  the  reception  to  the 
Hohenwalds;  and  Carl  ton,  entering  the  reading- 
room  of  the  hotel  on  the  same  afternoon,  found 
Miss  Morris  and  her  aunt  there  together  taking 
tea.  They  both  looked  at  him  with  expressions 
of  such  genuine  commiseration  that  he  stopped 

213 


The  Princess  Aline 

just  as  he  was  going  to  seat  himself  and  eyed 
them  defiantly. 

"Don't  tell  me,"  he  exclaimed,  "that  this  has 
fallen  through  too!" 

Miss  Morris  nodded  her  head  silently. 

Carlton  dropped  into  the  chair  beside  them, 
and  folded  his  arms  with  a  frown  of  grim  resig- 
nation. "What  is  it?"  he  asked.  "Have  they 
postponed  the  reception  ? " 

"No,"  Miss  Morris  said;  "but  the  Princess 
Aline  will  not  be  there." 

"Of  course  not,"  said  Carlton,  calmly,  "of 
course  not.  May  I  ask  why  ?  I  knew  that  she 
wouldn't  be  there,  but  I  may  possibly  be  allowed 
to  express  some  curiosity." 

"She  turned  her  ankle  on  one  of  the  loose 
stones  on  the  Acropolis  this  afternoon,"  said  Miss 
Morris,  "and  sprained  it  so  badly  that  they  had 
to  carry  her " 

"Who  carried  her  ?"  Carlton  demanded,  fiercely. 

"  Some  of  her  servants." 

"  Of  course,  of  course ! "  cried  Carlton.  "  That's 
the  way  it  always  will  be.  I  was  there  the  whole 
afternoon,  and  I  didn't  see  her.  I  wasn't  there 
to  help  her.  It's  Fate,  that's  what  it  is — Fate! 
There's  no  use  in  my  trying  to  fight  against 
Fate.  Still,"  he  added  anxiously,  with  a  sud- 

214 


The  Princess  Aline 

den  access  of  hope,  "she  may  be  well  by  this 
evening." 

"I  hardly  think  she  will,"  said  Miss  Morris, 
"but  we  will  trust  so." 

The  King's  palace  and  gardens  stretch  along 
one  end  of  the  public  park,  and  are  but  just 
across  the  street  from  the  hotel  where  the  Ho- 
henwalds  and  the  Americans  were  staying.  As 
the  hotel  was  the  first  building  on  the  left  of  the 
square,  Carlton  could  see  from  his  windows  the 
illuminations,  and  the  guards  of  honor,  and  the 
carriages  arriving  and  departing,  and  the  citi- 
zens of  Athens  crowding  the  parks  and  peering 
through  the  iron  rails  into  the  King's  garden.  It 
was  a  warm  night,  and  lighted  grandly  by  a  full 
moon  that  showed  the  Acropolis  in  silhouette 
against  the  sky,  and  gave  a  strangely  theatrical 
look  to  the  yellow  house  fronts  and  red  roofs  of 
the  town.  Every  window  in  the  broad  front 
of  the  palace  was  illuminated,  and  through  the 
open  doors  came  the  sound  of  music,  and  one 
without  could  see  rows  of  tall  servants  in  the 
King's  blue  and  white  livery,  and  the  men  of  his 
guard  in  their  white  petticoats  and  black  and 
white  jackets  and  red  caps.  Carlton  pulled  a 
light  coat  over  his  evening  dress,  and,  with  an 
agitation  he  could  hardly  explain,  walked  across 

2I5 


The  Princess  Aline 

the  street  and  entered  the  palace.  The  line  of 
royalties  had  broken  by  the  time  he  reached  the 
ball-room,  and  the  not  over-severe  etiquette  of 
the  Greek  court  left  him  free,  after  a  bow  to  those 
who  still  waited  to  receive  it,  to  move  about  as 
he  pleased.  His  most  earnest  desire  was  to  learn 
whether  or  not  the  Princess  Aline  was  present, 
and  with  that  end  he  clutched  the  English  adju- 
tant as  that  gentleman  was  hurrying  past  him, 
and  asked  eagerly  if  the  Princess  had  recovered 
from  her  accident. 

"No,"  said  the  officer;  "she's  able  to  walk 
about,  but  not  to  stand,  and  sit  out  a  dinner,  and 
dance,  and  all  this  sort  of  thing.  Too  bad, 
wasn't  it  ? " 

"Yes,"  said  Carlton,  "very  bad."  He  re- 
leased his  hand  from  the  other's  arm,  and  dropped 
back  among  the  men  grouped  about  the  doorway. 
His  disappointment  was  very  keen.  Indeed,  he 
had  not  known  how  much  this  meeting  with  the 
Princess  had  meant  to  him  until  he  experienced 
this  disappointment,  which  was  succeeded  by  a 
wish  to  find  Miss  Morris,  and  have  her  sympa- 
thize and  laugh  with  him.  He  became  con- 
scious, as  he  searched  with  growing  impatience 
the  faces  of  those  passing  and  repassing  before 
him,  of  how  much  the  habit  of  going  to  Miss 

216 


The  Princess  Aline 

Morris  for  sympathy  in  his  unlucky  love-affair 
had  grown  of  late  upon  him.  He  wondered  what 
he  would  have  done  in  his  travels  without  her, 
and  whether  he  should  have  had  the  interest  to 
carry  on  his  pursuit  had  she  not  been  there  to 
urge  him  on,  and  to  mock  at  him  when  he  grew 
faint-hearted. 

But  when  he  finally  did  discover  her  he  stood 
quite  still,  and  for  an  instant  doubted  if  it  were 
she.  The  girl  he  saw  seemed  to  be  a  more  beau- 
tiful sister  of  the  Miss  Morris  he  knew — a  taller, 
fairer,  and  more  radiant  personage;  and  he  feared 
that  it  was  not  she,  until  he  remembered  that  this 
was  the  first  time  he  had  ever  seen  her  with  her 
hair  dressed  high  upon  her  head,  and  in  the  more 
distinguished  accessories  of  a  decollete  gown  and 
train.  Miss  Morris  had  her  hand  on  the  arm 
of  one  of  the  equerries,  who  was  battling  good- 
naturedly  with  the  crowd,  and  trying  to  draw  her 
away  from  two  persistent  youths  in  diplomatic 
uniform  who  were  laughing  and  pressing  forward 
in  close  pursuit  on  the  other  side.  Carlton  ap- 
proached her  with  a  certain  feeling  of  diffidence, 
which  was  most  unusual  to  him,  and  asked  if  she 
were  dancing. 

"Mr.  Carlton  shall  decide  for  me,"  Miss  Mor- 
ris said,  dropping  the  equerry's  arm  and  standing 

217 


The  Princess  Aline 

beside  the  American.  "  I  have  promised  all  of  these 
gentlemen,"  she  explained,  "to  dance  with  them, 
and  now  they  won't  agree  as  to  which  is  to  dance 
first.  They've  wasted  half  this  waltz  already  in 
discussing  it,  and  they  make  it  much  more  diffi- 
cult by  saying  that  no  matter  how  I  decide,  they 
will  fight  duels  with  the  one  I  choose,  which  is 
most  unpleasant  for  me." 

"Most  unpleasant  for  the  gentleman  you  choose, 
too,"  suggested  Carlton. 

"So,"  continued  Miss  Morris,  "I  have  decided 
to  leave  it  to  you." 

"Well,  if  I  am  to  arbitrate  between  the  powers," 
said  Carlton,  with  a  glance  at  the  three  uniforms, 
"my  decision  is  that  as  they  insist  on  fighting 
duels  in  any  event,  you  had  better  dance  with  me 
until  they  have  settled  it  between  them,  and  then 
the  survivor  can  have  the  next  dance." 

"That's  a  very  good  idea,"  said  Miss  Morris; 
and  taking  Carlton's  arm,  she  bowed  to  the  three 
men  and  drew  away. 

"Mr.  Carlton,"  said  the  equerry,  with  a  bow, 
"has  added  another  argument  in  favor  of  main- 
taining standing  armies,  and  of  not  submitting 
questions  to  arbitration." 

"Let's  get  out  of  this,"  said  Carlton.  "You  don't 
want  to  dance,  do  you  ?  Let  us  go  where  it's  cool." 

218 


The  Princess  Aline 

He  led  her  down  the  stairs,  and  out  on  to  the 
terrace.  They  did  not  speak  again  until  they  had 
left  it,  and  were  walking  under  the  trees  in  the 
Queen's  garden.  He  had  noticed  as  they  made 
their  way  through  the  crowd  how  the  men  and 
women  turned  to  look  at  her  and  made  way  for 
her,  and  how  utterly  unconscious  she  was  of  their 
doing  so,  with  that  unconsciousness  which  comes 
from  familiarity  with  such  discrimination,  and 
Carlton  himself  held  his  head  a  little  higher  with 
the  pride  and  pleasure  the  thought  gave  him  that 
he  was  in  such  friendly  sympathy  with  so  beauti- 
ful a  creature.  He  stopped  before  a  low  stone 
bench  that  stood  on  the  edge  of  the  path,  sur- 
rounded by  a  screen  of  tropical  trees,  and  guarded 
by  a  marble  statue.  They  were  in  deep  shadow 
themselves,  but  the  moonlight  fell  on  the  path  at 
their  feet,  and  through  the  trees  on  the  other  side 
of  the  path  they  could  see  the  open  terrace  of  the 
palace,  with  the  dancers  moving  in  and  out  of 
the  lighted  windows.  The  splash  of  a  fountain 
came  from  some  short  distance  behind  them,  and 
from  time  to  time  they  heard  the  strains  of  a  regi- 
mental band  alternating  with  the  softer  strains  of 
a  waltz  played  by  a  group  of  Hungarian  musi- 
cians. For  a  moment  neither  of  them  spoke,  but 
sat  watching  the  white  dresses  of  the  women  and 

219 


The  Princess  Aline 

the  uniforms  of  the  men  moving  in  and  out  among 
the  trees,  lighted  by  the  lanterns  hanging  from 
the  branches,  and  the  white  mist  of  the  moon. 

"Do  you  know,"  said  Carlton,  "I'm  rather 
afraid  of  you  to-night!"  He  paused,  and  watched 
her  for  a  little  time  as  she  sat  upright,  with  her 
hands  folded  on  her  lap.  "You  are  so  very  re- 
splendent and  queenly  and  altogether  different," 
he  added.  The  girl  moved  her  bare  shoulders 
slightly  and  leaned  back  against  the  bench. 

"The  Princess  did  not  come,"  she  said. 

"No,"  Carlton  answered,  with  a  sudden  twinge 
of  conscience  at  having  forgotten  that  fact. 
"That's  one  of  the  reasons  I  took  you  away  from 
those  men,"  he  explained.  "I  wanted  you  to 
sympathize  with  me." 

Miss  Morris  did  not  answer  him  at  once.  She 
did  not  seem  to  be  in  a  sympathetic  mood.  Her 
manner  suggested  rather  that  she  was  tired  and 
troubled. 

"I  need  sympathy  myself  to-night,"  she  said. 
"We  received  a  letter  after  dinner  that  brought 
bad  news  for  us.  We  must  go  home  at  once." 

"Bad  news!"  exclaimed  Carlton,  with  much 
concern.  "  From  home  ? " 

"Yes,  from  home,"  she  replied;  "but  there  is 
nothing  wrong  there;  it  is  only  bad  news  for  us. 

220 


The  Princess  Aline 

My  sister  has  decided  to  be  married  in  June  in- 
stead of  July,  and  that  cuts  us  out  of  a  month  on 
the  Continent.  That's  all.  We  shall  have  to 
leave  immediately — to-morrow.  It  seems  that 
Mr.  Abbey  is  able  to  go  away  sooner  than  he 
had  hoped,  and  they  are  to  be  married  on  the 
first." 

"Mr.  Abbey!"  exclaimed  Carl  ton,  catching  at 
the  name.  "  But  your  sister  isn't  going  to  marry 
him,  is  she  ? " 

Miss  Morris  turned  her  head  in  some  surprise. 
"Yes — why  not?"  she  said. 

"But  I  say!"  cried  Carlton,  "I  thought — your 
aunt  told  me  that  you  were  going  to  marry  Abbey; 
she  told  me  so  that  day  on  the  steamer  when  he 
came  to  see  you  off." 

"I  marry  him — my  aunt  told  you — impossible!" 
said  Miss  Morris,  smiling.  "She  probably  said 
that  'her  niece*  was  going  to  marry  him;  she 
meant  my  sister.  They  had  been  engaged  some 


time/' 


"Then  who  are  you  going  to  marry?"  stam- 
mered Carlton. 

"  I  am  not  going  to  marry  any  one/'  said  Miss 
Morris. 

Carlton  stared  at  her  blankly  in  amazement. 
"Well,  that's  most  absurd!"  he  exclaimed. 

221 


The  Princess  Aline 


He  recognized  instantly  that  the  expression 
was  hardly  adequate,  but  he  could  not  readjust 
his  mind  so  suddenly  to  the  new  idea,  and  he 
remained  looking  at  her  with  many  confused 
memories  rushing  through  his  brain.  A  dozen 
questions  were  on  his  tongue.  He  remembered 
afterward  how  he  had  noticed  a  servant  trimming 
the  candle  in  one  of  the  orange-colored  lanterns, 
and  that  he  had  watched  him  as  he  disappeared 
among  the  palms. 

The  silence  lasted  for  so  long  a  time  that  it  had 
taken  on  a  significance  in  itself  which  Carlton 
recognized.  He  pulled  himself  up  with  a  short 
laugh.  "Well/*  he  remonstrated,  mirthlessly,  "I 
don't  think  you've  treated  me  very  well." 

"  How,  not  treated  you  very  well  ? "  Miss  Mor- 
ris asked,  settling  herself  more  easily.  She  had 
been  sitting  during  the  pause  which  followed 
Carlton's  discovery  with  a  certain  rigidity,  as  if 
she  was  on  a  strain  of  attention.  But  her  tone 
was  now  as  friendly  as  always,  and  held  its  cus- 
tomary suggestion  of  amusement.  Carlton  took 
his  tone  from  it,  although  his  mind  was  still  busily 
occupied  with  incidents  and  words  of  hers  that 
she  had  spoken  in  their  past  intercourse. 

"Not  fair  in  letting  me  think  you  were  en- 
gaged," he  said.  "I've  wasted  so  much  time; 

222 


The  Princess  Aline 

Fm  not  half  civil  enough  to  engaged  girls,"  he 
explained. 

"You've  been  quite  civil  enough  to  us/'  said 
Miss  Morris,  "as  a  courier,  philosopher,  and 
friend.  I'm  very  sorry  we  have  to  part  company." 

"Part  company!"  exclaimed  Carlton,  in  sudden 
alarm.  "But,  I  say,  we  mustn't  do  that." 

"But  we  must,  you  see,"  said  Miss  Morris. 
"We  must  go  back  for  the  wedding,  and  you  will 
have  to  follow  the  Princess  Aline." 

"Yes,  of  course,"  Carlton  heard  his  own  voice 
say.  "I  had  forgotten  the  Princess  Aline."  But 
he  was  not  thinking  of  what  he  was  saying,  nor 
of  the  Princess  Aline.  He  was  thinking  of  the 
many  hours  Miss  Morris  and  he  had  been  to- 
gether, of  the  way  she  had  looked  at  certain  times, 
and  of  how  he  had  caught  himself  watching  her 
at  others;  how  he  had  pictured  the  absent  Mr. 
Abbey  travelling  with  her  later  over  the  same 
route,  and  without  a  chaperon,  sitting  close  at  her 
side  or  holding  her  hand,  and  telling  her  just  how 
pretty  she  was  whenever  he  wished  to  do  so,  and 
without  any  fear  of  the  consequences.  He  re- 
membered how  ready  she  had  been  to  understand 
what  he  was  going  to  say  before  he  had  finished 
saying  it,  and  how  she  had  always  made  him 
show  the  best  of  himself,  and  had  caused  him  to 

223 


The  Princess  Aline 

leave  unsaid  many  things  that  became  common 
and  unworthy  when  considered  in  the  light  of  her 
judgment.  He  recalled  how  impatient  he  had 
been  when  she  was  late  at  dinner,  and  how  cross 
he  was  throughout  one  whole  day  when  she  had 
kept  her  room.  He  felt  with  a  sudden  shock  of 
delightful  fear  that  he  had  grown  to  depend  upon 
her,  that  she  was  the  best  companion  he  had  ever 
known;  and  he  remembered  moments  when  they 
had  been  alone  together  at  the  table,  or  in  some 
old  palace,  or  during  a  long  walk,  when  they  had 
seemed  to  have  the  whole  world  entirely  to  them- 
selves, and  how  he  had  consoled  himself  at  such 
times  with  the  thought  that  no  matter  how  long 
she  might  be  Abbey's  wife,  there  had  been  these 
moments  in  her  life  which  were  his,  with  which 
Abbey  had  had  nothing  to  do. 

Carlton  turned  and  looked  at  her  with  strange 
wide-open  eyes,  as  though  he  saw  her  for  the  first 
time.  He  felt  so  sure  of  himself  and  of  his  love 
for  her  that  the  happiness  of  it  made  him  tremble, 
and  the  thought  that  if  he  spoke  she  might  answer 
him  in  the  old,  friendly,  mocking  tone  of  good- 
fellowship  filled  him  with  alarm.  At  that  moment 
it  seemed  to  Carlton  that  the  most  natural  thing  in 
the  world  for  them  to  do  would  be  to  go  back 
again  together  over  the  road  they  had  come,  see* 

224 


The  Princess  Aline 

ing  everything  in  the  new  light  of  his  love  for  her, 
and  so  travel  on  and  on  forever  over  the  world, 
learning  to  love  each  other  more  and  more  each 
succeeding  day,  and  leaving  the  rest  of  the  uni- 
verse to  move  along  without  them. 

He  leaned  forward  with  his  arm  along  the  back 
of  the  bench,  and  bent  his  face  toward  hers. 
Her  hand  lay  at  her  side,  and  his  own  closed  over 
it,  but  the  shock  that  the  touch  of  her  fingers  gave 
him  stopped  and  confused  the  words  upon  his 
tongue.  He  looked  strangely  at  her,  and  could 
not  find  the  speech  he  needed. 

Miss  Morris  gave  his  hand  a  firm,  friendly  lit- 
tle pressure  and  drew  her  own  away,  as  if  he  had 
taken  hers  only  in  an  exuberance  of  good  feeling. 

"You  have  been  very  nice  to  us,"  she  said,  with 
an  effort  to  make  her  tone  sound  kindly  and 
approving.  "And  we " 

"You  mustn't  go;  I  can't  let  you  go,"  said  Carl- 
ton,  hoarsely.  There  was  no  mistaking  his  tone 
or  his  earnestness  now.  "If  you  go,"  he  went  on, 
breathlessly,  "I  must  go  with  you." 

The  girl  moved  restlessly;  she  leaned  forward, 
and  drew  in  her  breath  with  a  slight,  nervous 
tremor.  Then  she  turned  and  faced  him,  almost 
as  though  she  were  afraid  of  him  or  of  herself, 
and  they  sat  so  for  an  instant  in  silence.  The  air 

225 


The  Princess  Aline 

seemed  to  have  grown  close  and  heavy,  and  Carl- 
ton  saw  her  dimly.  In  the  silence  he  heard  the 
splash  of  the  fountain  behind  them,  and  the  rus- 
tling of  the  leaves  in  the  night  wind,  and  the  low, 
sighing  murmur  of  a  waltz. 

He  raised  his  head  to  listen,  and  she  saw  in  the 
moonlight  that  he  was  smiling.  It  was  as  though 
he  wished  to  delay  any  answer  she  might  make 
to  his  last  words. 

"That  is  the  waltz,"  he  said,  still  speaking  in  a 
whisper,  "that  the  gypsies  played  that  night — 
He  stopped,  and  Miss  Morris  answered  him  by 
bending  her  head  slowly  in  assent.  It  seemed  to 
be  an  effort  for  her  to  even  make  that  slight 
gesture. 

"You  don't  remember  it,"  said  Carlton.  "It 
meant  nothing  to  you.  I  mean  that  night  on  the 
steamer  when  I  told  you  what  love  meant  to  other 
people.  What  a  fool  I  was!"  he  said,  with  an 
uncertain  laugh. 

"Yes,  I  remember  it,"  she  said — "last  Thurs- 
day night,  on  the  steamer." 

"Thursday  night!"  exclaimed  Carlton,  indig- 
nantly. "Wednesday  night,  Tuesday  night,  how 
should  I  know  what  night  of  the  week  it  was  ? 
It  was  the  night  of  my  life  to  me.  That  night  I 
knew  that  I  loved  you  as  I  had  never  hoped  to 

226 


The  Princess  Aline 

care  for  any  one  in  this  world.  When  I  told  you 
that  I  did  not  know  what  love  meant  I  felt  all  the 
time  that  I  was  lying.  I  knew  that  I  loved  you, 
and  that  I  could  never  love  any  one  else,  and  that 
I  had  never  loved  any  one  before;  and  if  I  had 
thought  then  you  could  care  for  me,  your  engage- 
ment or  your  promises  would  never  have  stopped 
my  telling  you  so.  You  said  that  night  that  I 
would  learn  to  love  all  the  better,  and  more  truly, 
for  having  doubted  myself  so  long,  and,  oh, 
Edith,"  he  cried,  taking  both  her  hands  and  hold- 
ing them  close  in  his  own,  "I  cannot  let  you  go 
now!  I  love  you  so!  Don't  laugh  at  me;  don't 
mock  at  me.  All  the  rest  of  my  life  depends  on 

you." 

And  then  Miss  Morris  laughed  softly,  just  as 
he  had  begged  her  not  to  do,  but  her  laughter  was 
so  full  of  happiness,  and  came  so  gently  and 
sweetly,  and  spoke  so  truly  of  content,  that  though 
he  let  go  of  her  hands  with  one  of  his,  it  was  only 
that  he  might  draw  her  to  him,  until  her  face 
touched  his,  and  she  felt  the  strength  of  his  arm 
as  he  held  her  against  his  breast. 

The  Hohenwalds  occupied  the  suite  of  rooms 
on  the  first  floor  of  the  hotel,  with  the  privilege  of 
using  the  broad  balcony  that  reached  out  from  it 

227 


The  Princess  Aline 

over  the  front  entrance.  And  at  the  time  when 
Mrs.  Downs  and  Edith  Morris  and  Carlton  drove 
up  to  the  hotel  from  the  ball,  the  Princess  Aline 
was  leaning  over  the  balcony  and  watching  the 
lights  go  out  in  the  upper  part  of  the  house,  and 
the  moonlight  as  it  fell  on  the  trees  and  statues  in 
the  public  park  below.  Her  foot  was  still  in 
bandages,  and  she  was  wrapped  in  a  long  cloak 
to  keep  her  from  the  cold.  Inside  of  the  open 
windows  that  led  out  on  to  the  balcony  her  sisters 
were  taking  off  their  ornaments,  and  discussing 
the  incidents  of  the  night  just  over. 

The  Princess  Aline,  unnoticed  by  those  below, 
saw  Carlton  help  Mrs.  Downs  to  alight  from  the 
carriage,  and  then  give  his  hand  to  another  muf- 
fled figure  that  followed  her;  and  while  Mrs. 
Downs  was  ascending  the  steps,  and  before  the 
second  muffled  figure  had  left  the  shadow  of 
the  carriage  and  stepped  into  the  moonlight,  the 
Princess  Aline  saw  Carlton  draw  her  suddenly 
back  and  kiss  her  lightly  on  the  cheek,  and  heard 
a  protesting  gasp,  and  saw  Miss  Morris  pull  her 
cloak  over  her  head  and  run  up  the  steps.  Then 
she  saw  Carlton  shake  hands  with  them,  and 
stand  for  a  moment  after  they  had  disappeared, 
gazing  up  at  the  moon  and  fumbling  in  the  pockets 
of  his  coat.  He  drew  out  a  cigar-case  and  lei- 

228 


The  Princess  Aline 

surely  selected  a  cigar,  and  with  much  apparent 
content  lighted  it,  and  then,  with  his  head  thrown 
back  and  his  chest  expanded,  as  though  he  were 
challenging  the  world,  he  strolled  across  the  street 
and  disappeared  among  the  shadows  of  the  de- 
serted park. 

The  Princess  walked  back  to  one  of  the  open 
windows,  and  stood  there  leaning  against  the  side. 
"That  young  Mr.  Carlton,  the  artist,"  she  said 
to  her  sisters,  "is  engaged  to  that  beautiful  Amer- 
ican girl  we  met  the  other  day." 

"Really!"  said  the  elder  sister,  "I  thought  it 
was  probable.  Who  told  you?" 

"I  saw  him  kiss  her  good-night,"  said  the 
Princess,  stepping  into  the  window,  "as  they  got 
out  of  their  carriage  just  now." 

The  Princess  Aline  stood  for  a  moment  looking 
thoughtfully  at  the  floor,  and  then  walked  across 
the  room  to  a  little  writing-desk.  She  unlocked  a 
drawer  in  this  and  took  from  it  two  slips  of  paper, 
which  she  folded  in  her  hand.  Then  she  returned 
slowly  across  the  room,  and  stepped  out  again  on 
to  the  balcony. 

One  of  the  pieces  of  paper  held  the  picture 
Carlton  had  drawn  of  her,  and  under  which  he 
had  written:  "This  is  she.  Do  you  wonder  I 
travelled  four  thousand  miles  to  see  her?"  And 

229 


The  Princess  Aline 

the  other  was  the  picture  of  Carlton  himself, 
which  she  had  cut  out  of  the  catalogue  of  the 
Salon. 

From  the  edge  of  the  balcony  where  the  Prin- 
cess stood  she  could  see  the  glimmer  of  Carlton's 
white  linen  and  the  red  glow  of  his  cigar  as  he 
strode  proudly  up  and  down  the  path  of  the  pub- 
lic park,  like  a  sentry  keeping  watch.  She  folded 
the  pieces  of  paper  together  and  tore  them  slowly 
into  tiny  fragments,  and  let  them  fall  through  her 
fingers  into  the  street  below.  Then  she  returned 
again  to  the  room,  and  stood  looking  at  her 
sisters. 

"Do  you  know,"  she  said,  "I  think  I  am  a 
little  tired  of  travelling  so  much.  I  want  to  go 
back  to  Grasse."  She  put  her  hand  to  her  fore- 
head and  held  it  there  for  a  moment.  "I  think 
I  am  a  little  homesick/'  said  the  Princess  Aline. 


230 


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YB  74440 


£2,67/5" 


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